


After You Remove the Secrets

by Takara_Phoenix



Series: Detective Demigods [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Agasa is a son of Hephaestus, Akako is a daughter of Hecate, Apocalypse, Bottom!Percy, Character Death, Demigods go to Japan, Eri is Nemesis, Haibara is a dauther of Athena, Kaito is a son of Hermes, Kogoro is a son of Dionysus, M/M, Nicercy - Freeform, Nico and Kaito are awesome, No Heroes of Olympus, Past Child Abuse, Ran is a daughter of Nemesis, Saguru is a son of Athena, Sera is a daughter of Ares, Seven of the Prophecy: Nico Percy Clarisse Lou Akako Shinichi Kaito, Shinichi is a son of Dike, Shounen-ai, Slash, Sonoko is a daughter of Aphrodite, Temporary Character Death, Toichi is Hermes, Top!Nico, Yukiko is Dike, character resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 02:03:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1840279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/pseuds/Takara_Phoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wrote this before the "Heroes of Olympus" were released. It was my original thought on how the prophecy could unfold, mixed with the tempting idea of turning the cast of DC/MK into demigods.</p><p>Akako, daughter of Hecate, goes to Camp Half-Blood to ask for help, because the darkness known as the Black Organization is coming closer. Her half-sister Lou Ellen comes back with her to Japan, together with Nico, Percy and Clarisse. They meet the thieving trickster Kaito, who turns out to be a son of Hermes, and the justice-obsessed detective Shinichi, who turns out to be a son of Dike. Together, they fulfill the Big Prophecy and save Japan (and the world).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wicked Witch Went West

Title: After You Remove The Secrets – Only One Truth Prevails

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians; Detective Conan; Magic Kaitou

Disclaimer: All rights concerning Detective Conan or Magic Kaitou reserved to Gosho Aoyama for he created the awesomeness that is Kaitou KID. Ah, and Detective Conan, too. And all rights concerning Percy Jackson and the Olympians reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And the rest of those half-bloods, too. The story in itself though is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: romance, shounen-ai, magic, apocalypse, crossover, child abuse, character death

Main Pairings: Nicercy, KaiShin

Side Pairings: Chris/Clarisse, Grover/Juniper, Lou/Miranda, Jake/Will, Malcolm/Katie, Saguru/Aoko, Heiji/Kazuha, Makoto/Sonoko

Detective Conan Characters: Shinichi Kudou / Conan Edogawa, Ai Haibara, Genta Kojima, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, Ayumi Yoshida, Hiroshi Agasa, Suzuki Sonoko, Masumi Sera, Heiji Hattori, Kazuha Tooyama, Ran Mouri, Kogoro Mouri, Juzo Megure, Yukiko Kudou, Makoto Kyogoku

Magic Kaitou Characters: Kaito Kuroba, Akako Koizumi, Saguru Hakuba, Aoko Nakamouri, Toichi Kuroba, Chikage Kuroba, Snake

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Clarisse la Rue, Lou Ellen, Chris Rodriguez, Connor Stoll, Travis Stoll, Juniper, Malcolm Cage, Jake Mason, Will Solace, Annabeth Chase, Miranda Gardner, Katie Gardner, Pollux Liber, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Grover Underwood, Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Hermes, Ares, Dike, Hecate, Eris, Mrs. O'Leary

Summary: Handling the Black Organization and the Prophecy of Seven? Sure, why not!

 

**After You Remove The Secrets**

_ Only One Truth Prevails _

 

_**1\. The Wicked Witch Went West** _

 

It was a sunny, calm and rather ordinary day at an university in Tokyo. Though, ordinary means everything but calm in this case.

“Bakaito!“, screamed an enraged female with messy brown hair.

She wielded a mob with such intensity that every student in his or her right mind got out of her way as fast as possible. And those students in their right mind didn't really include her childhood friend, one magician extraordinary, namely Kuroba Kaito. He made a move to hide behind an empty seat. But when he noticed that said seat was indeed empty, he stopped dead in his tracks, leading to his childhood friend crushing right into him and both of them landing on top of the table in front of one very unamused looking half-Brit.

“What on earth possessed you--”, started the detective to rant, just to be interrupted by Kaito.

“Where's Koizumi-kun?”

“Yeah, sure, the witch possessed him”, grumbled Hakuba unhappily.

The question had at least the effect that the very angry girl with the mob forgot why she was angry in the first place. Instead a happy grin spread over her face.

“Akako-chan went to visit some relative in New York! I told her to take many photos!”

“Hn”, Kaito blinked a few times.

He wasn't entirely convinced by this. Back in the old days when they were still in high school it wasn't uncommon for Akako to just leave for a few days, but ever since they entered university she nearly never left the city. Hell, she nearly never left Kaito's side, much to his misery.

She did worry him, though. After they graduated she announced that she too would visit the same university as Kaito, Aoko and Saguru and she started to hang out with them. Always. It was unnerving, to say the least. Whenever Kaito turned around it was like she was just there. Like a shadow. A rather creepy witch-shadow.

As if it wasn't enough that his best friend studied hard to step into the footsteps of her father (read: to spend every free minute chasing him and trying to get him behind bars – him! The most awesome gentleman-thief to ever grace this planet... okay, the second-most awesome gentleman-thief... though, technically, both were Kaitou KID so both were the most awesome gentleman-thief ever... argh, he really needed to stop side-tracking in his thoughts! That brought him enough bruises from Aoko and her damnable mob these days!). And as if Aoko's betrayal wouldn't be bad enough as it was (never mind she didn't even know he was KID), no, she also started dating the most arrogant, annoying, obnoxious, arrogant, idiotic, stupid, arrogant, geeky, troubled, arrogant, troublesome, dumb, arrogant, stuck-up, high-and-mighty detective alive (possible ever, but he couldn't be one-hundred percent sure about that). God, Hakuba Saguru was the most arrogant prick ever (okay, so maybe he _was_ ). Seriously, there were detectives out there who weren't as arrogant, annoying and everything else that was so much Hakuba.

Again, Kaito's mind wandered off.

Okay, Hattori Heiji was out of the equation since Aoko – as strong and cunning with the mob she was – couldn't take Tooyama Kazuha on in a fight over her fiancee.

And Sera Masumi was kinda sorta the wrong gender for Aoko. Sadly.

And Kudou Shinichi was _so_ off limits for Aoko! (Not to mention that she didn't know that this detective was working under the name of Edogawa Conan for two years now...) But no! Before she would throw herself at **his** Shinichi, he'd rather have her dating Saguru!

...God, he just said it (or rather thought it). He gave the arrogant British plague the permission to date his best friend. Oh cruel, cruel world.

But he was a thief and intended on stealing one of his persuaders and it wasn't part of his plan to share said detective. If only Edogawa Conan wasn't in the way of his plans (oh, sweet irony, his goal was the one thing that stood between himself and the prize. Thanks for the paradox). The chibi-tantei was so fixated on getting his body and life back and chasing murderers and criminals (and doing something else very dangerous that Kaito couldn't quite pinpoint to this date) that he didn't see the flirts and roses and signs of love. Everybody seemed to notice Kaito's special interest in tantei-kun.

Everybody aside from tantei-kun, that is.

Even the media noticed and joked about KID taking a favorite under his persuaders. Hakuba teased him about it in his everyday-life (still very sure about his theory that Kaito was KID – and still without a proof, thank you very much).

Though, Mouri Ran was worse. Kaito always thought that the worse that could happen when the Mouris were present was a soccer ball aimed at his most precious parts. Always. Until Ran chased him with her karate skills screaming 'perverted pedophile' (it was just a short peek on the cheeks, for crying out loud! And it was Kaito's eighteenth birthday. He deserved a present...).

It seemed as if Shinichi was blind and deaf when it came to love. And this was everything but welcomed by one very depressed and desperate moonlight thief. So the only option left was to wait until Edogawa Conan disappeared and Kudou Shinichi re-appeared so he could finally steal the detective without being labeled a perverted pedophile. And that couldn't take that much longer. Right? Right...?

Who was he kidding, really? It's been two years now. Two agonizing years.

And those years got even worse when Koizumi Akako became his personal stalker (there it was again! His original train of thoughts! He knew it had to be somewhere nearby...). But a stalker-free-time (not counting Hakuba, because since he started dating Aoko those two had been inseparable) seemed like a nice little holiday. As if. Something was definitely fi—finny here (not those evil creatures of the sea. Don't think of it. Don't).

“What kind of relative did she want to visit?”, he wanted to know.

“Who?”, asked Aoko confused.

“Koizumi-kun of course”, grunted Kaito irritated (seriously, who else?).

“Oh, sorry that I can't follow your train of thoughts! After all, it had been only half an hour since you asked about her whereabouts!”, answered the girl annoyed.

Oh... Well, time sure went by when he thought about his favorite detective.

“So I thought about some other stuff in the meantime while you two were busy sucking faces. Do I get an answer now?”

Aoko blushed a furious red and jumped from Hakuba's lap. It still freaked her out everytime Kaito was that blunt about her and Saguru.

“She said something about a sister that lives in New York and they hadn't seen each other in years so she wanted to visit her over the weekend. Why are you so interested in her anyway?”

“Oh, I'm just being my curious self again”, answered Kaito nonchalantly.

“Stop it, Aoko-chan. You'll never set those two up. They are like oil and water, it just wouldn't work”, interjected Hakuba.

Okay, maybe Hakuba wasn't as useless as it seemed. Aoko's plan to make Kaito fall for Akako (as if Akako herself didn't try that for long enough) was the one thing Kaito and Saguru agreed on. The plan sucked and had to be stopped. But ever since the Brit and the brunette became a couple and the redheaded witch joined the friends permanently, Aoko had the crazy idea that everything would be better when they could double-date. Because that sounded like such a good idea, yeah.

And this was the first time Kaito acknowledged that Hakuba may not be as bad as he always thought and said. Because Hakuba knew that KID held a certain interest in Conan (and Kaito still wondered if the Brit thought he was some perverted pedophile or if the dirty-blonde detective really knew that there was more to Conan than just a 9-years-old). And maybe Hakuba also knew just how creepy the idea of dating Akako was.

“Anyway, do you have a number or something? A name? An address? Anything?”

“Uh... No, not really. Oh! Yes, a name! I think she called her Lou-chan.”

Lou-chan. No, that didn't ring a bell. Akako never mentioned having a sister. She never even mentioned someone – anyone – called Lou-chan. Was he just being paranoid or did this really mean something...?

“Kaito? Oi, Kaito. We're finished eating, hurry up or we're going to be late!”, said Aoko annoyed.

What?

“What? Where are we going?!”

Kaito blinked irritated and took a big bite of his sandwich when something horrible showed it's ugly face between the salad and bread. A very high pitched scream erupted from his throat and he spat his food back onto the table before jumping as high as possible.

“Aoko-chan, that was mean”, commented Saguru with a smirk.

“It was not. And besides, he started when he flipped my skirt in front of my professor”, answered Aoko cheekily.

“But a tuna-sandwich. That's a tad cruel”, chuckled Saguru halfheartedly.

“Why? Now he's finished eating and we won't be late”, grinned the brunette girl.

“Late? What for? And hurry up you two lovebirds!”, grunted Kaito from the door of the cafeteria.

“When did he get...? Oh, never mind”, grumbled the soon-to-be-policewoman and hurried to Kaito.

The dirty-blonde haired boy sighed and shook his head before he started to follow the two brunettes slowly.

“We meet up with Sera-chan and Suzuki-chan for a coffee”, informed Hakuba.

“Oh really! It's so nice meeting some beautiful women for a change!”, grinned Kaito.

“For a...?! Oh, Bakaito! Just wait till I get you!”, growled Aoko and grabbed her mob again.

Suzuki-chan and Sera-chan? Why! His biggest fan and his second-most-favorite critique. Though, Kaito had to admit that Suzuki-chan had been a bit annoying in the beginning, but ever since they met personally they got along like twins separated at birth. They agreed on so many things! Like how awesome Kaitou KID was, or how annoyingly sweet Hakuba and Aoko were. And how dumb Ran acted when it came to Shinichi. Though, Sonoko had told him that she had shipped Shinichi and Ran back in the old days. But some months after the detective had left, Sonoko gave up on them and told Ran that it was time to move on. And by now she was majorly annoyed at how Ran was still yearning for the permanently-absent Holmes geek. Ever since Aoko started spending nearly all her time with her oh-so-wonderful boyfriend, Kaito started spending more time with Sonoko. In fact, she was the first (and only) one he ever told that he was in love with someone (he never mentioned with whom, though. And he only told her because she wanted to hook him up with Ran. Why did every girl he knew want to get him into a relationship? And why did no one of them ever try to set him up with Shinichi?).

And Sera-chan? A wonderful change from all that British stuck-up-ness he had to endure nearly every heist! And since tantei-kun wasn't allowed to every heist (sadly, but Ran was still very strict when it came to Conan...), it was nice to have a battle of wits with tantei-chan. Even though he was greatly annoyed at how good she and Hakuba got along. Detective geeks. Kaito wondered how it would end if he would lock tantei-kun, tantei-san, tantei-han and tantei-chan into one room for a weekend. Just them and a case (note to self: Really need to test that theory!).

“Hakuba-kun! Hurry up! You don't let a girl wait!”, screamed Kaito.

“He's right, Sagu-kun! They won't wait forever!”

Hakuba just rolled his eyes and hurried to get to the duo. Such a joy to be with friends.

“Why isn't Mouri-chan coming, by the way?”, asked Hakuba.

“Sonoko-chan said that Ran-chan's awaiting a phone call from Kudou-kun”, answered Aoko.

Good lord, what a way to start the day... It wasn't his fault that Ran was by now his victim number one when it came to pranking. It _was_ majorly annoying that she wanted what was _his_ to steal!


	2. Goldy Locks Seeks Help By The Three Bears

_**2\. Goldy Locks Seeks Help By The Three Bears** _

 

It was a sunny, calm and rather ordinary day at a summer-camp near New York. Though, nothing was ordinary about this summer-camp. And it was never calm at Camp Half-Blood.

“Come back and fight like men!”, screamed an enraged female with messy brown hair.

The two sandy-brunette boys laughed fullheartedly and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. The Stoll brothers would never, not in a million years, learn that pranking the Ares cabin would end bad. But it was in their nature, really. They were sons of Hermes, they needed to prank those who act like they are better or higher or mightier. Shortly, every child of Ares that had ever been born.

The electric spear hissed past Percy's ear and hit one of it's targets right into the buttocks (the ear piercing scream that sounded like a little girl was only mildly irritating). The son of Poseidon blinked a few times and decided to ignore Connor and Travis. Those were the Stoll brothers after all. Whatever they did to anger Clarisse like that, they surely deserved the I'm-a-child-of-Ares-and-going-to-kick-your-ass-treatment.

The brunette girl grunted with a pleased smile and waved Percy.

“Hey there, sea-brat! Nice seeing you!”, grinned the head of the Ares cabin and jogged up to Percy.

“Yeah! The quest took more time than I thought it would. How are things around here?”, wanted the black-haired son of Poseidon to know.

“Great. Just great. But without those idiotic Stolls it would be so much greater”, grumbled Clarisse annoyed.

They headed to the lake, Percy's second-favorite place at camp.

It was nice being back at camp. Sure, camp had changed ever since their victory over the titan lords three years ago. It was so crowded with all the cabins for every single minor god out there and all those new campers that kept coming. Percy wasn't really into meeting and befriending all those demi-gods, they were way too many and they didn't understand. They hadn't fought the war. They hadn't lost friends and family to the monsters and titans and worse to the traitorous demi-gods.

He and Clarisse never really got along. Percy still remembered how he first met the mean bully that tried to give him a swirly and ended soaked with toilet-water herself. That day started a relationship of deep, passionate despise and annoyance. And the black-haired boy didn't really remember when exactly this had changed. Maybe when they collected the golden fleece? Or was it the chariot of Ares? Did it take so long as up until Silena's death during the war? Whatever may have been the trigger for their friendship, he didn't really care anymore. Their friendship became one of the most important relationships in Percy's life and she became his new female best friend.

Yeah, new.

Annabeth and Percy were good at being friends. But they were impossible as a couple. And they couldn't get back to normal after their breakup one year ago. They were just too awkward afterward. And he didn't hold it against her, no, Annabeth Chase deserved her own fairytale prince and this just wasn't the role Percy wanted to play in his life. He still missed their bickering and chatting, though.

And Grover Underwood may be his best and first friend, but ever since he became the Lord of the Wild, there was not that much time left to spend with Percy. And the son of Poseidon understood that the satyr was always busy. He did. That didn't change the fact that he still missed his best friend.

So the old 'Golden Trio', as the Harry Potter fans in camp liked to call them, didn't exist in this way anymore.

The new and jokingly called 'Silver Trio' threesome around the hero of Olympus was electrifying and quite extraordinary, if you'd like to call it that.

One part of this trio was Nico di Angelo. But that was different than Percy's friendship with Grover. Nico was _Nico_. The olive-skinned son of Hades with those short black curls, that cheeky smirk and those dark eyes, deep as Tartarus itself. And those _abs_. Not that Percy didn't have abs himself, but those were _Nico's abs_. Darn, did that boy grow up in the past five years since they first met. Not the childish ten-year-old with his Mythomagic-cards that couldn't stop rambling. Not even the well trained nearly thirteen-year-old that had fought the war with Percy. No, no, no, this Nico was a hit-a-growth-spot-trained-even-more-and-looked-just-gorgeous-Nico.

And exactly there laid the problem. Nico may be one of the closest friends Percy had, but it was just impossible to talk with the other teen about the crush Percy had developed over the last year. You don't go up to one of your best friends and say things like 'Hey, you know, I'm crushing on this person. A boy. More precisely you. You got any advice for me?'. Not.

And that's were Clarisse la Rue entered the game. She became his secret-keeper and faithful second-in-command (after he was announced the leader of camp by the head counselors of the cabins. Thank you very much). The brunette daughter of Ares always tried to help Percy, but it didn't really work the way she intended.

The only problem with the Silver Trio and Percy's crush may be that Nico spend most of his time in the underworld with his father and his dear step-mother (after all, he finally entered her good grades). Okay, Percy spend most of his time in New York with his mother Sally and his step-father Paul, but he went to camp every holiday he had and was always put down when he heard that Nico hadn't arrived back yet. But not anymore. He finished high school this year and had decided to stay year-round at camp. Another secret Clarisse kept for him, because he still wasn't sure how to explain to his parents that he wanted to move out and all. And he didn't want to tell Nico, because he didn't know what exactly he expected from the son of Hades. Percy couldn't expect that Nico would start spending all year at camp. But just a 'Yeah, nice for you' would sadden him.

“Stop.”

Percy blinked and turned sideways to Clarisse.

“What?”

“Stop. You're doing it again. You're moping because of Nico again. And I demand that you stop doing it. Seriously. No hanging out with you if you plan on sobbing and crying over the prince in shining armor that broke your heart, little mermaid”, growled the brunette irritated.

“Are you teasing him again, Clarisse?”, interjected a very well known masculine voice.

Percy jumped high, his sea-green eyes widened in shock and he stared at Clarisse in exception. The girl just shrugged it off nonchalantly.

“What I wanted to tell you was that Nico arrived at camp yesterday”, grinned Clarisse and stuck his tongue out at the son of Poseidon.

“Anyway, what were you guys talking about? Seems to be interesting if I look at that intense red in your face, Perce.”

The youngest demi-god smirked and stepped in-between his two friends, laying his arms around their shoulders. Percy growled annoyed and blushed some more. One thing he really hated about being invincible was that he had stopped growing all along and that Nico was by now taller than him because of that damnable growth-spot he had when he was fourteen. The only thing that kept growing seemed to be Percy's hair that by now reached his shoulder-blades, but he really was too lazy to get them cut (and it had nothing to do with Nico saying that he liked Percy's hair better long!).

Nico chuckled and started playing with Percy's hair.

“Your hair grew again! Did we really not see each other in such a long time?”, wondered Nico.

“Well, you're always awfully busy when you visit the underworld”, grumbled Percy.

“Aw, did you miss me so much?”, grinned the taller boy and laid his head on Percy's shoulder.

“How could I miss someone as annoying and full of himself as you?”, answered the son of Poseidon nonchalantly.

“Would you please stop your lovers quarrel for a moment? There was something I wanted to tell you! But I couldn't because a certain son of Hades was so exhausted when he arrived that he didn't hear a word I told him and a certain son of Poseidon was too busy chasing some random monsters”, interrupted Clarisse and rolled her eyes at their attics.

Percy's blush deepened at her words and Nico laughed loudly.

“Well, then, what is it?”, asked Percy and coughed lowly, trying to get his composure back.

“You know how Annabeth's half-brother Malcolm Cage started dating Katie Gardner after the war, right?” Of course did Percy know that. He was quite close to them both. But Clarisse said it mainly to annoy Nico since the son of Hades was a loner and tried to keep to himself, excluding the other campers and not befriending those who Clarisse and Percy called their friends. So the girl loved to talk about their friends and every other camper she cared enough to remember their name just to get Nico to find some new friends. “And Katie's younger sister Miranda? The petite daughter of Demeter? Oh, come on, Nico. You know her. You certainly saw her before. Looks an awful lot like her big sister. Long, brown hair, green eyes, flowers braided in her hair? Very shy? Yes, that one. Well, and Miranda started dating Lou Ellen a few weeks ago...”

“Lou Ellen got herself a girlfriend? Seriously?”, grunted Nico surprised.

The other two demi-gods blinked irritated and nodded.

“You... You know Lou Ellen?”, asked Percy curiously.

“Of course. She's the second-most-feared camper. Right after me. How could I not know her? Every half-blood in this camp used to whisper behind my back before I became the popular guy that helped the son of Poseidon to win the war. I miss the times when they all ran away as soon as they saw me, by the way. If one more daughter of Aphrodite asks me to go out with her, I'll send a zombie army after the Aphrodite cabin. But I'm getting off topic. Anyway, I heard other campers call her the 'female Nico' when she first arrived at camp so I looked for her and...”

“You made a friend?! You made a friend and never told us. Cheeky bastard”, growled Clarisse annoyed.

“Oh, come on. It's not like I'd meet her and we'd braid each others hair while watching 'Titanic'. We just talk from time to time”, dejected Nico and shrugged.

“About personal issues? You know that that's the definition of friends, right? Sitting together and talking about personal stuff. Well, anyway... Lou Ellen. She got a visitor! A second child of Hecate moved into cabin sixteen.”

“Another witch at camp? Oh no”, gasped Percy desperately.

“What? You have something against witches, little merboy? Did one try to steal your voice and promised you to get your prince?”, joked Nico.

“What kind of witch would want that voice anyway?”, grinned Clarisse.

“Oh, thanks. Such good friends I have. You know what? You can hang out alone, if you love joking about me so much. I promised Chris to drop by anyway.”

“Did he... seriously just storm off like a chick?”, asked Clarisse and stared at the spot her best friend inhabited a few seconds ago.

“He totally did. Is it just me or did he really start acting like a girl these past few months? Did something happen that you guys forgot to tell me?”

The girl wondered how she'd get out of this number. Just great. Did Percy really need to PMS right now? Ever since the boy found out that he was 'not so straight' he was 'so confused' that he started PMSing worse than every girl Clarisse knew. And now he stormed off to spend time with _her_ boyfriend? Leaving her with _his_ crush? Boy, the son of Poseidon should really thank the gods that they were friends nowadays, because everyone else would receive some serious ass-kicking.

“I don't really know. Maybe it's the whole step-father-issue.”

“But he likes Paul. I like Paul. Even you like Paul. Why would he act so strange now?”

“Maybe it's his fear for his future. You know how it is for us half-bloods. We don't really think about what to do after school, maybe it's that.”

“Yeah... Maybe... You know what? I'll follow him and apologize, we really pick at him a lot these days”, mumbled the black-haired boy and stood up.

“You're right. You should apologize. And I'll go catch my boyfriend, can't risk the little mermaid to try and snatch him away from me”, grinned Clarisse and ran past the son of Hades.

Nico followed her slowly until they reached the Hermes cabin. And then he stopped dead in his tracks.

“You idiots! You two! I still owe you some serious ass-kicking!”, growled Clarisse in her most dangerous run-as-long-as-you-are-still-able-to voice.

A moment later, the Stoll brothers ran past Nico into the far woods, chased by the angry daughter of Ares. The girl was closely followed by a very distressed looking, black-haired boy.

“Hi, Connor, hi, Travis, bye Connor, bye Travis, bye Clarisse. Nice seeing you again, Chris. Bye, Chris”, stated Nico to no one in particular.

“You like talking to yourself?”, asked Percy mildly amused.

“”No, I actually came to talk to you”, answered Nico with a serious face.

Percy gulped and nodded. The serious Nico was always making him jumpy. It always reminded him of the days when they didn't get along very well. And he hated remembering that particular time between them.

“Look, I'm sorry if I offended you or something. I was just kidding, it wasn't serious and I wanted to apologize for it. How about you stop being mad at me and I stop making stupid jokes and we go to the bonfire together?”

The green-eyed boy sighed in relief and nodded. He linked arms with Nico and they headed to the fireplace together. But as soon as they entered, they were clomped by a lilac-haired punk girl.

“NdA! How are the ghosts down there?”, asked the girl with a broad grin.

“They are fine. How are you? Clarisse mentioned that you got yourself a roommate?”

Percy was dumbfounded. For years now he tried to find friends for Nico and here he was with a friend he found all by himself? Stupid son of Hades, never telling anything.

“Not a permanent roommate, though. She's a sister of mine I met quite some years ago. She's only visiting, her flight back to Tokyo goes off tomorrow”, answered Lou and shook her head.

“Well, how about you introduce us to that sister of yours?”, asked Nico curiously.

The punk girl nodded and grabbed Nico's hand. A jolt of jealousy went through Percy until he remembered that Lou had a girlfriend. So he took a deep breath and followed them over to some benches at the other side of the big bonfire.

Lou came to a halt in front of an Asian girl with long, black hair that had some red highlights where the sun hit it. The girl had the same mysterious, dangerous aura around herself as Lou.

“Nee-chan, meet Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. Boys, that's Akako Koizumi, my older half-sister from Tokyo.”


	3. Down The Rabbit Hole, The Cheshire Cat Awaits You, Alice

_**3\. Down The Rabbit Hole, The Cheshire Cat Awaits You, Alice** _

 

It was a sunny, calm and rather ordinary day at the Mouri Detective Agency in Tokyo. Though, calm may not be the right word to describe the temper of one Suzuki Sonoko who was currently visiting her best friend.

“Why can't you just leave it alone?”, screamed the dirty-blonde-haired female.

“What do you mean? Leave it alone?! How could I leave it alone?!”, countered her brown-haired best friend angry.

“He won't come back! Maybe never! How can you not see it?! He'd been away for two years now! Two years! Do you really think he will ever come back?! And even if he comes back, what in the world makes you think that you two could come together like nothing happened? It's been two years. Maybe two years ago you two had a chance to become a couple but not anymore. Too much time has passed. I would wish to say that both of you had changed, but strangely enough it's been just him who had changed!”

“How can you say that?! How can you say that he had changed? He loves me and I love him!”, screamed Ran enraged.

“Well, maybe because he said it himself? Oh, Ran. I'm your best friend, I'm just worried about you. This is not good for you.”

The blonde looked pleadingly at her friend. They stood in the middle of the agency, screaming at each other like there was no tomorrow. Kogoro sat at his desk and tried to hide behind his newspaper and Conan sat on the couch, watching the two girls with curiosity and worry.

“He just said that because he didn't want me to wait for him and worry about him! But I love him, I'll wait for him!”, hissed Ran.

No, actually, he said that because he in fact didn't love his childhood friend in that way and wanted her to find true happiness. Sadly for him though, did her crush develop into a full-grown obsession. Conan was worried and by now it was not only him who worried about the brown-haired karate champion.

Tooyama Kazuha and Hattori Heiji tried to set her up with someone whenever Ran and Conan went to visit them in Osaka. This was one of reasons why they didn't visit Osaka as often as Conan wanted to. Last time he saw his male best friend was at Kazuha's and Heiji's engagement party. And that had been a few months ago. It really was unnerving for him that he wasn't able to decide for himself what do do and when to do it and with whom.

Even Suzuki Sonoko was sick and tired from all that crying and complaining. She may have been the biggest supporter of a relationship between Shinichi and Ran, but even she acknowledged that Shinichi held no interest in the brown-haired girl anymore and that he may never come back.

Okay, maybe one Sera Masumi was a big help to make Sonoko realize that Ran and Shinichi weren't two halves of the same. Since the girl transferred to the Meiteitan High School she became close friends with Sonoko and Ran. And with Conan. He hadn't figured out how much the girl from America really knew or her true intentions, but she always covered for him when he wanted to attend a KID-heist, or just be away from Ran and Kogoro for a change. And she treated him like an equal, as if she knew that there was more to Edogawa Conan than one could see.

What really freaked him out were Sera's friends from university. She visited the same law classes as Hakuba Saguru and Nakamouri-keibu's daughter Aoko and befriended the couple. They, of course, befriended Ran and Sonoko. And they introduced the little group from Edoka to one magician extraordinary. And Aoko wanted to set Ran up with said magician. The fact aside that Kuroba Kaito looked an awful lot like Kudou Shinichi, they both had nothing in common.

What freaked him out so much was Kaito. The boy was – different, to say the least. He was always happy-go-lucky, joking and pranking (preferably Hakuba and Ran). The messy-haired boy loved to play tricks and magic shows (the Shounen Tantei-dan loved the boy wholeheartedly and adopted him as their new mascot, much to Conan's misery). He was always friendly and charming and a gentleman toward everyone (with the exception of Aoko, but those two seemed to have a very strange relationship anyway). The kids really, really loved him and he was such a good Nii-san to them. But as soon as he set eyes on Conan, his whole demeanor seemed to change. Most of the times Conan felt like a teddy bear, because Kaito _loved_ to cuddle him and carry him on his shoulders, or just follow him like a lost puppy. One would think that Kaito just adored the little boy. But whenever Kaito opened his mouth and talked to Conan, the apparently 9-years-old felt like the whole Conan-incident never had happened and he was still his original age. The strange boy gave him a feeling of belonging that even Heiji with his clumsy attitude when it came to Shinichi's secret and Masumi with her secretive knowing-more-than-she-admits-to-know attitude couldn't give him.

And that's what freaked him out so much. The only person who ever made him feel that way was a certain white-clad nuisance and that was okay, because the thief was just a thief he chased from time to time and not a constant person from Conan's everyday-life. This was not good on so many levels. Because it was impossible and really, really not good for him to fall in l-- to like someone in that way. Not as long as he was stuck in the body of a child. It took him long enough to get over Ran and it was painful enough as it was. He didn't want to endure this pain again. He couldn't.

And truth be told, he knew that he would never get his body back again. Haibara gave up hope half a year ago. There was nothing she could find. And now both tried to live their lives as kids again. But how could he if he really developed feelings for a boy that was physically ten years older than him?! This was really frustrating. Okay, enough moping for a day. Trying to concentrate on the conversation between Ran and Sonoko again.

“--you haven't even seen him in months!”, screamed Sonoko.

“He's busy with that case of his!”, defended Ran the Holmes geek.

“What kind of case takes two years to solve?!”

Okay, they were still on it. This was one discussion that could last hours (and did it most of the times). They had moved from the middle of the room to the door, so the quarrel neared its end. It was always like this. They would continue to scream at each other while Sonoko would near the exit and leave, then they would continue screaming at each other over the phone until Sonoko reached whatever place she wanted to meet their friends. The blonde girl laid a hand onto the door handle and shot her best friend a murderous glare.

“Oi, chibi, you coming?”, asked the wealthy girl.

“Coming, Sonoko-nee-chan”, answered Conan and hurried to follow his blonde friend.

It was never good to be near Ran after one of her quarrels with Sonoko. Especially when she was in one of her extremely bad yearning-phases.

“Bye, Ran-nee-chan!”

“But! Conan-kun!”

He waved her and ran down the stairs. The blonde behind him mumbled some choice words about their friend.

“Where are we going, Sonoko-nee-chan?”, asked Conan curiously.

“We're meeting Masumi-chan, Kaito-kun, Aoko-chan and Hakuba-kun at that cute little cafe Kaito-kun and I discovered last week!”, explained Sonoko.

“Why isn't Akako-nee-chan coming?”

The creepy girl wasn't Shinichi's favorite person to spend time with. Truth be told, she was too creepy even for him.

“She's out of the country for the weekend. Anyway, chibi, did you hear from Hattori-kun recently?”

“No. Last time we talked he said he would be too busy planning the wedding to call, but he'd send the invitations as soon as everything is set. Why? Didn't Kazuha-nee-chan call last week?”

“She did. And everything she said were some not so nice words about her fiancee. I hoped you would know more”, sighed Sonoko.

Oh, Shinichi didn't know, but he could imagine what the Osakan idiot did again. He probably spend too much time with cases instead of helping with the wedding. Maybe he should call the tanned boy and inform him that he should act a bit more responsible or the wedding would be canceled. And that was one thing they all didn't want.

“Say, chibi! How was it yesterday? And tell me everything! Details!“, squealed the blond.

“Wouldn't it be better if we wait until we meet Kaito-nii-chan?“ , asked the chibified detective.

“Oh, you're probably right...“, sighed the girl with a disappointed look.

And this was another thing that drove him crazy. Kaito and Sonoko were so obsessed with KID that they just wouldn't stop bombarding him with questions about every heist. And yesterday was the most recent heist. Meaning he wouldn't get rid of them for the rest of the day. Maybe he should have stayed at the agency after all. That's when Sonoko's cellphone rang and the voice of Ran boomed over the speaker.

“We weren't finished yet!“

“Oh, yeah? Well, and here I thought we were! You know what?! Just--”

And that's when Conan stopped listening again. Seriously, there was no way in hell that he would listen to that _again_. But he wasn't entirely sure if listening to another row of rants wouldn't have been better than what followed.

“Conan-chan! I'm so happy to see you! We totally ran past each other yesterday!”

...And he was being clomped and cuddled again.

“Er, yeah, Kaito-nii-chan...”

“You need to tell me every little awesome detail about your encounter with KID-sama yesterday! He looked fabulous again, didn't he? And his tricks keep getting better, right?”, rambled the messy-haired teen.

“You are so right, Kaito-kun! That trick, I really couldn't figure it out!”, gasped Sonoko and hung up on Ran to hug the boy.

“I know! It was awesome, you just believed he really walked through the wall like a ghost! And how he stole the gem right from under Nakamouri-keibu's eyes!”

“It was awesome!”, squealed Sonoko and Kaito in unison.

And Conan was stuck in between them. The worse place he could imagine to ever be. In between the two biggest KID fans while they were swooning over their most favorite thief. Someone up there hated him.

“How about we sit down before you two start getting into fangirl-mode?”, suggested Sera with an amused look on her face.

The two nodded and the group headed to a table and sat down. Aoko and Saguru next to each other, Sonoko at the head of the table between Aoko and Kaito and Masumi next to Kaito and opposite Saguru. And due to the lack of seats, Conan onto Kaito's lap. He should have stayed at the agency.

“What may I bring you?”, asked the waitress with a smile.

“Such a fair lady! This is for you”, commented Kaito and produced a orange rose out of nowhere, causing the girl to blush and giggle (and Conan to roll his eyes). “I'd like to have a hot chocolate, a double-chocolate cake and a chocolate ice with extra cream, please. Three coffees for the ladies, one black, one with milk and cream and a latte macchiato. An Earl Grey with lemon and milk for him. And a piece of your fabulous lemon pie and a glass milk for my little friend here.”

The waitress nodded and left. After all those times they went to some random little cafe it wasn't hard to remember what everyone preferred (though, Conan would have loved to get a coffee, too...).

“So, Ran-chan really didn't come?”, asked Masumi curiously.

“No. She said that he often called or gave some other proof of life when KID got involved. She needs to wait at home, because he could call or show up”, grumbled Sonoko disapprovingly.

“She... really takes this whole thing way too far. I mean, back when we still went to school, I always thought that Kaito and I would end up as the perfect couple. But I _saw_ that it wouldn't work when he stopped caring about the boys that wanted to date me. Not even Sagu-kun! So I actually talked with him and he said he would wish me the best and the best wouldn't be him, at least not for me. Why can't she work it out that way, too? I mean, she and Kudou-kun are friends!”, wondered Aoko confused.

“That's actually quite simple, Aoko-chan. Ran-chan has no Hakuba-kun of her own, she just sees Kudou-kun and can't imagine being with anyone else”, explained Sera with a somewhat sad smile.

“But didn't Kudou-kun try to explain it to her? I mean, he must see how heartbroken she is!”, asked the messy-haired girl.

“Shinichi-nii-chan tried to explain it to her! He really did!”, defended Conan his own honor.

The last he needed were Ran's friends being angry at him!

“I'm sure he did, but I guess he's not very good with feelings, eh?”, grinned Kaito down at him.

“Just because you are such a smooth talker doesn't mean we all are”, muttered Conan lowly.

“What was that?”, asked Kaito and poked the smaller boy.

“Nothing, nothing, Kaito-nii-chan. And didn't you want to talk about KID-san?”, answered Shinichi with a fake child-like smile.

“Oh yeah! I nearly forgot!”, exclaimed Kaito with mock-shock.

He'd prefer the admiration for the white clad nuisance over another conversation about his non-existent love-life with Ran. Not that he really liked talking about that full-of-himself thief with the mocking attitude with that full-of-himself idiot with the mocking attitude. There was a certain pattern in the guys he found attractive. And it was not a pattern he approved. Not that he could change it (he tried, to no avail). So here he was, talking with one of his crushes about the other, all just to get off the topic of his stalker-ish best friend's obsession with him.

A typical day out of Kudou Shinichi's life.


	4. How the Little Merboy Lost his Voice

_**4\. How the Little Merboy Lost his Voice** _

 

“It's a pleasure meeting you, Jackson-kun, Angelo-kun”, smiled the Japanese witch.

“The pleasure is all ours, Koizumi-chan”, said Nico and bowed respectfully.

Percy blinked confused and nodded. It caused the son of Hades to chuckle and to turn to his friend.

“It's respectful to call someone you are not close to by the last name. And you normally use a suffix in the Japanese language. But to explain those to you would take too long, _Percy-chan_.”

The boy just nodded and the other three practically saw the question-mark forming over Percy's head. Akako laughed lowly.

“How come that you know about our customs, Angelo-kun?”, asked Akako curiously.

“I spend much time in Japan for training”, explained Nico.

“Well, how about we go and sit down and you tell us what brought that visit on, err, Koizumi-chan?”, suggested Percy with a smile.

The other three followed him to a bench with a certain distance to the big mass that sat around the bonfire. Nico smiled when he saw how much admiration Lou seemed to have for Akako. He still remembered the admiration he held for his big sister.

“I actually wanted to talk to you guys about that...”, started Lou and looked at the boys.

“Really? Why?”, wondered Percy.

Lou sat in between her sister and the son of Hades, Percy sat beside Nico and had to lean forward to see the punk girl. The green-eyed boy laid his hand on top of Nico's leg and leaned close into the younger demi-god, causing Nico to blush slightly. Thank the gods, it was too dark to see the color in his face.

“Because she could need a quest, so to say... Do you want to explain it yourself, Nee-chan?”

“Yes, that would be good. You see, the Western civilization may have had its war three years ago. But we in the East have our monsters and problems, too. There is a group of evil half-bloods that I call the crows. I've watched them from a distance for a long time now, but a friend of mine, the dove, is tangled in their web of evilness and risks his life trying to fight them. But it gets more and more dangerous and I'm worried that something will happen. And if the dove shall fall, the crows will win. And if the crows will win, even you over here in the West will be affected.”

“Crows? Dove? What?”, was all Percy had understood. Or rather didn't understand.

Nico smiled fondly and laid an arm around Percy, bringing the other teen closer to himself, thus making it a lot more comfortable for the son of Poseidon. Percy didn't even know how cute he looked when he didn't understand something.

“It's her way of expressing herself, she always calls people by birds, you'll get used to it”, shrugged Lou nonchalantly. “The point is that a war threats to break loose in Japan. That's the reason I wanted a quest.”

War. That didn't sound good at all. He tightened his grip around Percy's waist. The memories of the last war were still fresh in his mind, even after all those years. And the most frightening memory he had was how much this war broke Percy. All those friends who had died. Nico would never forget the empty and haunted look in those sea-green eyes at the burial of all those who had fallen and whose bodies hadn't been found. Nico wanted, wished and swore to himself to never ever in his life see this look ever again.

“Did you... Did you ask Chiron about a quest?”, asked Percy.

His voice wavered at the beginning and he moved unintentionally nearer the taller boy.

“Yeah, we did. He said it would be my quest and I should decide who I'd take with me to Tokyo. And since you two are, well, you two are _you_. The heroes of Olympus. I wanted to ask you and Clarisse to tag along. But I don't know, I mean, five half-bloods for a war?”, mumbled Lou insecurely, fiddling with her skirt.

It would be her first quest and she wasn't sure about anything at all. Nico felt bad for her.

“Well, of course we'd accompany you. Though, five is a unlucky number for a quest”, whispered Percy barely audible.

He still remembered the last quest with five people. Only three made it out alive. Two had died. Quests were made for three people.

“Well, but if I recall correctly, you, Grover, Annabeth and Tyson made it out of a quest alive, too, albeit you were more than three people”, noted Nico with an encouraging squeeze of Percy's hip.

Silence fell between the four half-bloods, everyone thought about the events that were awaiting them. Until a certain daughter of Ares joined them.

“So, did you tell the boys about the quest?”, asked Clarisse and sat down next to Percy.

“Yeah. And they agreed”, answered Lou with a nod.

“Great! We're going to do some serious ass-kicking in Japan!”, grinned the brunette girl.

She was a child of Ares, of course she was excited about a battle.

“We booked three flights to Tokyo for tomorrow”, informed Lou.

“Why three?”, wanted Akako to know.

The witch tilted her head and looked at her younger half-sister. As far as she counted, they would be five people.

“I'm a child of Hades, I'm not into flying. I can shadow-travel, that's faster and cheaper. And our Percy is a child of Poseidon, not allowed to fly. So I guess, he'll use Nico Travelings”, grinned the olive-skinned boy.

The green-eyed teen next to him only nodded, his thoughts still far away.

“Well, maybe we should head to our cabins and go to sleep? Our flight will take off quite early”, suggested Clarisse after some awkward minutes of silence.

The others agreed and stood up, all leaving to get back to the cabins. All except Percy, he headed into the opposite direction. Clarisse sighed and stared at his back.

“Nico, you think you could look after Percy?”, asked the girl. “I want to properly say good bye to Chris, if you know what I mean.”

“Ugh, I wish I wouldn't know. But sure... I'm worried about him, too”, agreed the son of Hades.

Nico strode slowly after the son of Poseidon, always staying halfway in the shadows. He wanted to give Percy some privacy, but he needed to keep an eye on the older demi-god, just for himself to feel better. He knew that, deep down, Percy hated fighting. The Prince of the Sea hated the death it caused, the friends he could loose.

When the son of Poseidon came to a halt, he stood in front of the lake. It was a beautiful picture, the full moon reflecting on the water and on Percy's jet-black hair. Nico could have stood there all night, just watching the other half-blood. Because, really, it was one of his favorite pastimes. He himself didn't sleep that much anyway and spend hours at Percy's side, just watching the boy sleep. Even if Percy didn't know, Nico often visited him in New York at night, when too many weeks had passed without them meeting, he would shadow travel into the apartment of the Blofis' and just sit there all night, watching the other sleep. It's been one of the few things he could do. He always had a crush on the older demi-god, ever since they first met and Percy had rescued Bianca and him. Their fight in the following year didn't change his feelings for the son of Poseidon.

But for Nico to realize just how deep his feelings for the green-eyed boy really ran, he needed to loose their friendship again, Tartarus, he even nearly lost Percy completely. And he wanted to tell the other, he really wanted. Until Annabeth had to ruin everything. She and Percy had danced around each other for years now, always somewhere in between, never truly admitting what clearly stood between them. Only when Nico decided to tell Percy how he felt they had to become the new it-couple! And what for? Just to break Percy's heart? She knew how much she meant to the hero of Olympus, but she still chose to leave, to go to mount Olympus and leave Percy alone. A long distance relationship. Because that always works out so great! It took them a year to realize that it in fact didn't work at all. And it left Percy heartbroken, because he didn't just loose his girlfriend, he also lost his best friend.

It had been Nico and Clarisse who collected the pieces of Percy's heart again and helped the boy to heal. That's what friends are for, after all.

The worse was that Nico couldn't bring himself to be angry with Annabeth, because she was just as heartbroken as Percy and so many campers blamed her for what had happened.

“Hello, Percy”, brought a soft, serene voice him back from his musings.

A beautiful girl with pale, green skin and long honey-blonde hair materialized next to the son of Poseidon. The naiad smiled friendly and sat down next to Percy.

“Hello, Juniper”, whispered the green-eyed boy.

“You do not look very good”, commented Juniper with a worried look on her face.

“I don't feel very good either... There is this quest Lou is taking and she wants me, Nico and Clarisse to go with her.. But it's...”

“Like in the old days?”

“Yeah... You know, strangely I never missed the big and life treating adventures. I like the missions we have nowadays. Collecting other half-bloods, fighting off one or two monsters in the progress. Lou's sister says that the events in Japan could mean another war. And I don't want another war. I can't express how much I don't want another war.”

“I understand. And I also understand that you miss Grover, he was always by your side when the danger was great...”

“Well, I guess you miss him more than I do. He's your boyfriend after all”, grinned Percy halfheartedly.

“You're right, I miss him greatly. But now that he's the new Lord of the Wild, he got more important things to do than spending time with me...”

“Don't say things like that. He loves you”, disagreed Percy vehemently.

The green-skinned girl smiled sweetly and nodded before falling into a comfortable silence. The two laid down in the grass and stared at the stars for the longest of time, unaware of the pair of dark eyes that was watching them from the shadows. The tree nymph stood slowly, brushing the dirt from her dress and leaving the son of Poseidon alone, heading to the woods and passing Nico on her way there.

“He fell asleep, you should bring him to his cabin. Sleeping outside isn't the most comfortable thing a demi-god could do” advised Juniper with a fond smile.

Nico just nodded. Sometimes the naiad gave him the feeling she knew everything that's going on inside his head. The son of Hades walked up to his crush and picked him carefully up, carrying the shorter half-blood to cabin three. But once he found himself in front of the blue cabin, he couldn't bring himself to enter it. Not only because he wanted to keep the son of Poseidon all to himself. Percy also had an iron-grip on his shirt and it didn't look like the long-haired teen would let go of it for the next hour, so he decided to change directions. Because Nico knew Percy's most favorite place at camp. Cabin thirteen. With a half smirk on his lips he entered his own cabin and laid Percy on the black silken sheets of his king sized bed (whoever thought that a cabin had to look like a regular cabin was so mistaken when it came to the Hades cabin. Made out of black onyx, adored with some stylish skulls and bones to creep nosy campers out and the sweet luxury bed. Nico understood why it was Percy's favorite place at camp, really).

“Good night, little merboy”, whispered Nico and placed a soft kiss on top of Percy's head before he too crawled under the covers.

He soon fell into a deep and for a change dreamless sleep, not waking until the weight on his chest started moving in the early morning hours. The son of Hades blinked a few times until he was aware enough of the world around him to notice the pale fingers that drew figures onto his chest and the long, black hair that laid spread over his chest. One of Nico's arms laid around Percy's waist.

“Morning, little merboy”, grinned the curly-haired boy. He laid his other arm around the slim waist and held the shorter teen close. “Had a good night's sleep?”

“Mhm... Morning, Ghost Prince...”, whispered Percy drowsily and snuggled closer into Nico's chest. “Clarisse dropped by, about half an hour ago... Said they'd leave to catch their flight... Couldn't go back to sleep...”

“You could have woken me, you know?”, chuckled Nico and made a move to stand up.

Percy let go of Nico, not very willingly but what else could he do? Nico looked down at the sleepy boy in his bed, green eyes, deeper than the sea itself, stared back into his own. The son of Hades smirked and grabbed a backpack, starting to pack some clothes, nectar and ambrosia, his eyes never leaving the beauty that laid in his bed. He could get used to it. Waking up next to Percy. And they did, occasionally. Whenever they were too exhausted from their pranks with the Stoll brothers, they would just collapse on the bed of who-ever's cabin was nearer.

“You should go and grab yourself some stuff for the trip too, you know.”

Percy nodded and stood lazily, leaving for some minutes and re-entering the Hades cabin with a blue backpack the moment Nico grabbed his Stygian iron sword. The taller boy spread his arms and grinned cheekily.

“Come here, little merboy, I won't bite. Promise.”

“I... I...er... I could also, you know... Uhm...”, stuttered the green-eyed boy and fiddled with his bag.

“Lost your voice?”, chuckled Nico and laid his arms around Percy's waist once the shorter boy stepped near enough.

Percy grumbled something incoherently and laid his arms around Nico's neck. The son of Hades stepped into the shadows cast by his wall and tightened his grip on Percy, not wanting to loose him on the way. They stepped out of the shadows in a dark alley, both were breathless. Nico was a bit exhausted and both of them were more than just mildly aroused. The son of the sea god _loved_ shadow traveling, it was the most exciting feeling he knew (a fact he'd never tell Annabeth, because what girl liked to hear that traveling through shadows was more arousing and exciting than sex with her?). Pale fingers clawed into the black fabric of Nico's leather jacket, his knees felt like jelly and he was grateful for the support the strong arms around his waist provided. On the other hand, the strong grip on his hips wasn't helping very much when one tries to will an erection away. But Nico didn't feel very different. Shadow traveling didn't have the same intensity to him, because he was used to it, but the close proximity to Percy made him feel like a hormonal teenager at his first shadow travel again. He only gripped the hips harder, because as long as his hands were busy holding the other boy they wouldn't try to do _other stuff_. The adrenaline and the arousal made it hard to not just slam Percy into the wall and ravish him. Once Percy wanted to let go of Nico, he slipped on something on the ground, but luckily the taller boy still had his arms around his waist and stopped him from falling.

“Good Zeus, I really hope that's strawberry jam, cause the alternative is too creepy...”, whispered the paler boy and looked down in horror.

“If blood creeps you out that much, please don't look left”, growled Nico into his ear.

It wasn't really surprising that Percy looked nonetheless. And screamed.

“There lays a body! In an alley! I mean... it is a body, isn't it?”, hissed Percy wide eyed.

He had seen many cruel things during the war, but never in his whole life did he ever stumble across a body in an alley. What in the name of Zeus was wrong with Tokyo?!

“It is. I can see his ghost standing at the alley's exit. We should hurry. We don't have any papers and can't explain how we got here. I don't want to end in prison in Japan.”

“You're right, we should get away. Fast.”

Percy gripped Nico's hand and they started running. But before they could leave the alley, a soccer ball hissed past them. Both stopped dead in their tracks and turned slowly.

“Keibu! There are two suspect persons trying to run away!”, screamed a messy-haired teenager.

The boy watched them cautiously and stood slightly in front of a child, maybe nine years old with big glasses. The soccer ball hit the wall and bounced off of it, rolling back to the little boy who picked it up.

“I get the feeling that we are in deep shit”, hissed Percy and pressed himself closer to Nico, that way he could grab the younger boy's hand and stop the son of Hades before he could reach his sword. “Deep _mortal_ shit.”

“And what are we supposed to do now? Let us getting arrested by a teenager and a brat?”, growled Nico. “Just one hit upside the head and they'd be knocked out and we could get away.”

“No. Hurting. Mortals”, whispered the son of Poseidon angrily.

Nico was nervous, he saw the messy-haired boy grip something that looked suspiciously like a gun, just a bit different. And the child made him nervous.

“You two better don't move until the police arrives”, warned the boy, aiming at them with his watch.

Tokyo was really one Tartarus of a fucked up place, mused Nico. Stumbling over a dead body, getting threatened by a child. What else was there to come?


	5. The Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood and the Big, Bad Wolf

_**5\. The Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood and the Big, Bad Wolf** _

 

Kaito loved weekends! He really, really loved them. The whole Friday afternoon was spend in that cozy little cafe, eating delicious chocolate cake and cuddling his beloved tantei-kun.

Saturday was mainly used for planning his next heist and doing some other work, because he promised the Shounen Tantei-dan to go to the park with them on Sunday.

And now it was Sunday and he sat in the park on a blanket, watching the Shounen Tantei-dan play a game of soccer against some random kids they just met. It was truly too bad that his Shin-chan was stuck in the body of a 9-years-old. How fascinating and captivating it would look, Shinichi in shorts, sweating and panting. Bad Kaito! He needed to stop this train of thoughts before he ended with an erection. Because that would be majorly embarrassing.

“Kaito-nii-chan! We won!”, screamed Ayumi joyful and ran to him.

“That's great, Ayumi-chan! Here you go, cake for the winners”, grinned the messy-haired boy and made a cake appear out of nowhere.

The three kids were excited and happy, but Conan just rolled his eyes. It saddened Kaito that Shinichi didn't seem to enjoy their time together.

“Too bad that Ai-chan couldn't come... But she and Agasa-hakase are surely having fun on their trip!”, chirped Ayumi with a broad smile.

Kaito smiled. He loved the girl, she was so energetic and cute, she sometimes reminded him of Aoko when they first met. And how Genta and Mitsuhiko tried to fight for her attention was unbelievable cute. Although it was kind of sad that Ayumi only had eyes for Conan, because she had no change to ever win his heart. Kaito was too great a competition.

“Kaito-nii-chan, you went to the KID-heist on Thursday, too, right? You as a magician got a different view than Conan-kun as a detective!”, wanted Mitsuhiko to know.

“Well, we sure have different views when it comes to KID-sama”, chuckled Kaito. “You see, KID-sama's tricks were awesome! And you should have seen the task force when he walked through the wall like a ghost, but Conan-kun had to ruin the show.”

“Excuse me, but I intent on catching the thief and not cheering him on!”

“But you would be such a cute cheerleader, Conan-chan!”, grinned Kaito.

Pink smoke erupted around Conan and as soon as it went down, the other Shounen Tantei-dan stared with open mouths at the short boy with glasses. Shinichi didn't really want to look down, but his curiosity got the better out of him.

“ _Kuroba_!”, screamed Conan enraged and jumped.

The boy grabbed his soccer ball and Kaito knew that now was the right time to run as fast as possible. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta watched loudly laughing how their fellow detective chased the teen magician, wearing a white cheerleading outfit, the KID-smiley printed on the front, red and blue stripes on the short skirt, two blue and red pompons laying discarded on the ground. They ran until they reached the lake. Face to face with a fish that swam lazily through the water was a situation Kaito really did not like.

“Fi—fi—fi!”, stuttered the messy-haired magician.

“Fish? That what you want to say, Ka~i~to?”, asked Conan with a devious smile.

The boy blocked Kaito's only exit. Where to go? Fish or dangerous soccer ball? Oh cruel world!

“Conan-chan! Please, let me go! This evil monster--!”

“Is not going to do anything to you. I may let you pass if you change my clothes back, though”, considered the detective.

“Aw, you're such a spoil-spot, Conan-chan!”, whimpered Kaito pleadingly.

“Give me back my clothes, or I'm going to hit you with this soccer ball so hard that you'll stumble backwards and fall into this lake. Right next to the cute little fishy.”

This boy was such an evil mastermind. A 'poof' later and the very cute cheerleading outfit disappeared and Conan had his original clothes back. For a moment he considered kicking the taller teen anyway, but then again, Kaito already looked like a kicked puppy just because he _saw_ a fish. Conan couldn't bring it over himself to further torture the magician.

“Let's head back to the kids before they do something stupid again”, suggested Conan.

“You're too friendly, oh great tantei-sama!”, swooned Kaito and snatched Conan's hand.

The not-child mumbled some choice words and blushed a deep red.

“Why do you carry a child-sized cheerleading uniform with you, anyway?”

“Rule number two: Always be prepared for every scenario possible”, grinned the thief.

“And what is rule number one?”, asked Conan and tilted his head.

“Na~i~sho”, singsonged Kaito.

Conan rolled his eyes. Typical. That was so Kaito-like.

“Anyway, how come you took so much time to get after KID-sama during the heist?”

“It has nothing to do with KID-san getting better, if that's what you're implying. I just had a bad day, is all”, grumbled Shinichi.

“A bad day, eh? Because of Mouri-chan?”

“She's acting really weird these days. The more Hattori's and Tooyama-chan's wedding nears, the stranger she acts. She's convinced that Shinichi would mysteriously appear just to accompany her to the wedding. She's so antsy about it, every time the phone rings, she jumps and drops whatever she's doing”, explained Conan.

“And... Do you want him to show up and go to the wedding with Ran?”

It was a suggestive question. He knew that Shinichi and Conan were one and the same person, so precisely he wanted to know if Shinichi wished to be with Ran again. He was still a bit insecure when it came to the karate champion and the Heisei Holmes.

“No!”, came the very fast answer. “I mean... I would like it if Shinichi could attend the wedding, but not with Ran, it would only spike her already way too high hopes. And that would be mean.”

“Yeah, you're right, that would be mean”, chuckled the moonlight magician. “Say, you surely have the most contact with Kudou-kun, right? I mean, you two are related after all. Is he planning on returning anytime soon?”

Conan blinked a few times. Kaito gave him the feeling to be Shinichi again and sometimes Kaito gave him the impression that the messy-haired boy knew that he in fact was Shinichi. But that wasn't possible. How could the teenage magician know...? He had a good idea about it, but _that_ wasn't possible.

“No”, was the simple and sad answer.

“Conan-kun! You left Kaito-nii-chan alive, that's nice!”, smiled Ayumi happily.

“There are enough bodies following him as it is, he doesn't need to add more to that pile himself”, joked Kaito.

“Oi! There hadn't been any murderers in the past five days!”, objected Conan.

“Don't jinx it!”, interjected Mitsuhiko.

It was a nice day, he really didn't want another murder today. Genta laughed over their little quarrel and laid down in the soft grass. His eyebrows knitted when he gazed into the sky.

“Maybe we should leave before it starts raining”, mumbled the boy.

The other four looked skyward and nodded dumbfounded. It had been sunny and the sky was blue when they started eating the cake. How could the weather change that drastically in the course of a few minutes?

Glitter erupted around their blanket and everything re-appeared in a little basket.

“Off we go, my dear Shounen Tantei-dan!”, cheered Kaito.

Conan grabbed the basket and followed the four kids. Kaito juggled five brightly colors umbrellas until the first raindrops hit their heads.

“Here you go, don't want you to catch a cold”, smiled Kaito and handed everyone an umbrella.

A sigh laid on Conan's lips when he first noticed the big smiling KID that adored every umbrella (he didn't even start about the color. It was pink. What color else should it have? That was so typical Kaito!). Sometimes the glasses wearing boy wondered why Kaito acted that way. On the one hand, the messy-haired boy would treat him like an equal, but on the other he treated him like a _little girl_. But Shinichi had some ideas. Some ideas he really didn't like.

“Conan-kun! I heard about a KID-heist next week! You won't go alone this time, right?”, asked Ayumi with big, teary eyes once they reached her home.

“Right, just because KID-san picked you out as his opponent doesn't mean that you can face him off alone. We are the Shounen Tantei-dan!”, lectured Mitsuhiko.

“You may be 'tantei-kun', but you didn't catch him! With our help you could catch him!”, grinned Genta.

“They have a very good point there, tantei-kun, you should share your fame”, chuckled Kaito.

And that's when Conan stopped dead in his tracks. Genta and Mitsuhiko said goodbye to Ayumi, but Conan couldn't focus on it. The way Kaito said his nickname.

It was just one little thing too much.

So many facts, obvious and undeniable, all piled up during the last year since he met the messy-haired magician. There! That's fact number one.

Kaito was a magician. He was _obsessed_ with KID. Charming. A gentleman. Giving roses to pretty girls. Always watching Conan's back, especially if a murderer followed them.

And Shinichi had never ever seen Kaito during the heist itself.

Both were the same height and body built. The same gestures, the same walk, the same talk. The same _eyes_. This deep violet, the mischief in those captivating eyes.

Everything. Just... everything.

The way he acted, especially after a heist.

He could list things, little things, random things, all day long.

And before he knew it, he was alone with Kaito.

“Ne, Conan-kun? You alright down there?”, asked the messy-haired boy worried.

“Yes, _KID-san_.”

And now it was Kaito's place to stop dead in his tracks. Pokerface. Don't forget your pokerface.

“Eh, I don't know what you're talking about!”, said Kaito with some hesitation in his voice.

“You do. I don't know how I could ignore it all those months! I mean – _everything_! The way you act, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you say my name! Your height, your body language, your body built, your trickery, your magic, your eyes.”

“My eyes?”, interrupted Kaito with a blink.

“Don't think I didn't see them properly enough back when you caught me after I fell down from the airship! And I never saw you during a heist! Never! And Hakuba-kun kept telling me how you are KID-san, but I never--”

“You never what? You never believed him because it's not true! How could you believe that crap?! There's no proof!”, hissed Kaito and dropped his umbrella.

The rain had stopped, but it was dark and windy and the blue umbrella was blown away. Kaito's face showed a mixture between anxiety, angry and afraid.

Conan just looked plain angry.

“Don't! Don't you dare lie to me now! I know you're him! Don't... don't deny it... I've known it all along, ever since we first met and you gave me a white rose with a pink frame, the same rose that KID-san gave me the night before during a heist. And evidence kept coming, but I didn't want to see it. You've always treated me with respect, don't insult me now.”

He knew it, he knew it all along. But he didn't want to know it. Because knowing KID's true identity would mean he had to arrest him. And in all these years he had chased KID, he never once thought about the moment he would arrest the moonlight thief.

“I... You're right, tantei-kun. Please... give me enough time to say goodbye to my mom before you call Nakamouri-keibu, okay?”, whispered the magician.

He cast his eyes sideways, not daring to look into Conan's eyes.

“Why should I call Nakamouri-keibu? You said it yourself, I don't have any proof, Kaito-kun.”

Kaito's eyes shone brightly, his head snapped up and he gaped at the small boy.

“But... What... I mean, you're a detective, don't you have the duty to arrest criminals?”

“I guess I owe you, KID-san. You kept my secret, I keep yours.”

“Are you... sure...?”, asked Kaito with a small voice.

“As long as you keep quiet, so will I”, promised the 9-years-old.

Kaito's relief was evident on his face and he couldn't suppress the urge to cuddle the small detective. Conan blushed and tried to fight Kaito off, but with less effort.

“You won't believe how relieved I am! But... how come you confront me now?”, asked Kaito and blinked a few times.

“I don't know, maybe the way you said tantei-kun was the last straw that broke the camel's back”, sighed Shinichi.

“Aw, don't deny it, you like me”, grinned the thief.

“I—I don't”, hissed Conan and blushed a deep crimson. “I just value our rivalry.”

“No, you don't. We're friends. And you know it”, teased the magician and started walking again.

“Whatever. Let's head back to the agency and stop talking nonsense, stupid thief...”

However, before they even reached the agency, they were stopped by the sounds of crying. They both just rolled their eyes when they saw the sirens flash in the distance. A blonde girl sat in front of an alley, crying and sobbing.

“Ojou-san, are you alright?”, asked Kaito worriedly.

“I—I... There's a dead boy laying on the street! And there's so much blood...”, gasped the blonde.

A police car parked in front of them and Megure-keibu exited the vehicle. He looked at the duo in mild surprise.

“Kuroba-kun, seeing you at the scene is quite rare”, commented the inspector.

“Well, I just wanted to bring Conan-kun back home”, shrugged the magician.

Conan wanted to say something when they heard a loud thud and screaming from the alley. Kaito and Shinichi exchanged a glance and hurried into the darkness, not hearing Megure's protests.

The girl had been right. There was way too much blood for one person to bleed. And the corpse was in worse condition than Kaito had ever seen (and with Conan around, he had seen his fair share of dead bodies). Over the dead girl were two teenage boys hovering, both hunched into the dark corners of the shadows. And then they turned tail and started running. That's when Conan aimed his soccer ball at them, missing by a mere inch.

“Keibu! There are two suspect persons trying to run away!”, screamed Kaito.

He took a protective stance in front of Shinichi, not knowing if those two were the murderers and if they were dangerous. Conan's soccer ball hit the wall and bounced off of it, rolling back to him and he picked it up. The two suspects talked in hushed voices and Kaito started getting nervous (because with Conan around he also had his fair share of psychopaths). He pulled his card gun, just in case the situation may escalate. Shinichi threw him a sharp glance.

“You two better don't move until the police arrives”, warned Conan, readying his watch to knock them out in case they wanted to flee.

But they did something neither Conan nor Kaito expected. They ran straight through the wall.


	6. Rapunzel's New-found Tower

_**6\. Rapunzel's New-found Tower** _

 

“What are we going to do now, Ghost Prince?”, asked Percy nervous.

“Trust me, I have a plan”, whispered Nico and grabbed hold of the son of Poseidon.

He dashed right into the wall, through the shadows, never loosing his grip on Percy. They fell through a ceiling and landed with a 'thud' on top of a soft bed. The green-eyed boy tried to catch his breath and looked down, right into the deep, dark eyes of Nico.

“Wow...”, whispered Percy once he had his breath enough under control to form any words at all.

If sex with Nico was just half as intense as shadow traveling with him... Wow, was all that went through his mind. Their noses were touching, he laid on top of the younger half-blood, his legs on either side of Nico's body, his fingers clawed into the black shirt.

“You're being very eloquent again, Perce”, chuckled Nico with smirking eyes.

“Fuck you...”, growled Percy.

“I'd rather you”, grinned the curly-haired son of Hades and tried to sit up.

The son of Poseidon shied away, pushing himself up and feeling those tight muscles through the thin fabric of the shirt. And they weren't the only hard things about Nico he could feel. He blushed the deepest of scarlet when he felt something hard at his ass. Truth be told, he wasn't one to judge since shadow traveling affected him the same way.

“Don't—Don't say things you don't mean out of a—a rush of adrenaline and endorphins!”

Percy feared that it was because of mixed up hormones and he really, really didn't want any awkwardness in their friendship. It had been awkward enough for the longest of times. And he certainly wouldn't ruin it again because of some stupid raging hormones!

“Oh, c'mon, I've been joking, Perce”, whispered Nico.

Well, he hadn't been joking, but judging by Percy's reaction, every other answer would be very, very wrong. But it just hadn't been possible to not say it, because the son of Poseidon looked too delicious, all flushed, sweating, panting, wide-eyed, ruffled and aroused.

Percy let himself fall sideways next to the taller demi-god, still panting and gasping for air. Once he had a minimum of space between himself and Nico, he took the time to look at his surroundings.

The bed was king sized, the covers were of black silk, at least a dozen soft cushions laid at the head of the bed. The walls were painted black, the very soft looking carpet was black, the floor and the furniture were of the darkest shade of ebony. There were only three kind of people who would live in a room like this; emos, goths and children of Hades.

“Where... where are we...?”, breathed Percy irritated.

“We're at home. My home, that is”, grinned Nico and stood up.

He stretched a bit, showing off the lean muscles under his shirt and the enormous erection that had build up under his black jeans. Percy subconsciously licked his lips. He really had to restrain himself from jumping the curly-haired boy, ripping his jeans off and making good use of it.

“Uh... And where exactly would that be...?”, voiced the long-haired teen irritated.

“If you don't mind, I'd like to take a very cold shower, okay?”

Percy nodded, his eyes following Nico through one of the two doors. He heard the rustling of clothes and the sounds of water.

“We haven't left the city again, if that's what you mean.”

“Now I understand even less. You live in Tokyo...?”

“Like I said yesterday, I train here”, explained Nico.

Forgetting that Nico couldn't see him, the other nodded. Then he stood, deciding to take a closer look at Nico's home.

“After... everything back then, I've spend some time in the underworld. But a living being can't stay there for too long. Even a child of Hades. And Persephone hated my guts. Since I needed to learn how to fight with a sword, my father bought me an apartment in Tokyo. I mean, what did you think, really? That I stay all year down in the underworld?”

“Well, I... actually, I never thought about that. You never said anything, or invited me, Annabeth, Grover or Clarisse over to you, so... I don't know...”, confessed Percy.

He really had never thought much of it. And looking at it now, he saw that it was kind of stupid.

Shaking his head he casually walked over to the other door and opened it. He was blinded by the lights. He stood in the middle of what seemed to be the living room, though the complete opposing wall was made out of glass, the lights of Tokyo's city shining and making the room sparkle in all the colors of the rainbow. There was a flat screen, a glass table, a black leather couch, two black leather sofas, next to Percy stood another book shelf, similar to the one in the bedroom. The parquet was dark, like everything else in the apartment. He walked a few steps, past the book shelf and discovered another door, leading to a guest room, similar to the main bed room, just smaller in size and more impersonal (but it too had another door probably leading to an own bathroom). The son of Poseidon turned around, noticing that living room and kitchen were connected. He passed the master bedroom and took the two steps separating the kitchen-part from the living-part of the main-room. It was only small (compared to the rest of the apartment; it was still the biggest kitchen Percy had ever seen) and obviously black. A black marble counter-top stood in the middle of the room. He opened the fridge, just to be disappointed and welcomed by emptiness. No snacks for hungry sons of Poseidon. With an unsatisfied frown he turned around again, taking in the whole awesomeness of the living room.

A wall unit fulfilled the purpose of separating the two rooms, Percy walked around it, looking at the impressive DVD collection, the neat flat screen and the stereo equipment. In front of the media center laid an extremely soft looking fur. And Percy really didn't want to know which kind of animal had to die for it, because seriously, it would only ruin the fun of laying on it (what he totally intended on doing later on). Behind the fur stood the glass table, on either side of the table stood a couch and at the head of the table, in perfect view of the television, stood an armchair, mighty and old and looking like it was owned by Hades himself (what it, technically, was). But the most stunning part of the whole apartment was the part behind this armchair. Because there stood another armchair, looking exactly the same but facing the opposite direction. Namely, a fireplace made out of onyx, decorated with some skulls and bones (all nice and cozy...). Percy gaped at the fireplace. He was sure that this thing led down to the underworld, directly. It was way too big, too dark, too gloomy and too creepy to not lead into Hades' palace. And above the fireplace hung an oil-painting. A very old oil-painting. A family portrait of four people, all clothed in the style of the early thirties. A beautiful woman on the left, long, thick, black curls framing her olive-skinned face, earthy brown eyes gleaming with love, a motherly smile adoring her reddish lips. Next to her stood a man Percy knew only too well. Hades. But not just Lord Hades how everyone knew him. No, Percy had never seen the Lord of the Dead look as happy as he did on this picture. The most happy Percy had ever seen Hades was a look, defined by most people as a cross between cramps and constipation. But this, this looked like happiness and Percy didn't know if he should smile or run. In front of the couple were two children, both sharing their mother's darker skin and her pitch-black curls. The little boy had his mother's brown eyes, the girl, only merely older than her brother, had eyes as black as night itself.

“My father kept it, all these years. After... He gave it to me”, broke Nico's voice the deadly silence of the apartment.

Even after all these years, after the apologizes and talks and whatnot, he still wasn't able to say these few words. After his sister's death. Guilt passed through sea-green eyes as fast as lightning over the sky during a storm. Percy slowly turned and by turning he caught sight of the ceiling.

“Wow...”

“You are indeed very eloquent today, Perce”, laughed Nico and rubbed his hair dry.

“Excuse me, but this is by no means an apartment – a luxury penthouse loft with a window front and a glass ceiling, yeah. But not an apartment. Where I've been growing up, that had been an apartment”, grunted the son of the Sea God and turned to the window.

The view was breathtaking, there, in the middle of all those skyscrapers, glowed the Tokyo Tower in all it's beauty. The different colored lights of the city shining brightly.

“It's beautiful...”, whispered the long-haired teen.

“It is... And the view's nice too, eh?”, grinned Nico and stood beside him.

“You're dripping. Haven't you learned how to use a towel? That carpet surely was expensive!”, shrieked Percy and made a hasty motion with his hand.

“Aw, don't do that. I'm very fond of using towels”, complained Nico at being dry-willed by Percy.

“Then don't drip on expensive furniture”, complained the older half-blood.

“What are you complaining about, anyway? It's my apartment. Oh, and please, don't compare it to the rat hole you've been living in”, grunted Nico displeased.

“Excuse me?”, growled the son of Poseidon.

“There's nothing to excuse. We're all grateful your mom moved in with Paul after the marriage.”

“Well, not everyone can pay for such a—how are you paying for this?”

“Am not. As most people tend to forget, my father's not only the God of Death, but also the God of Wealth. I'm rich, baby”, grinned Nico and sat down on the leather couch.

“Rich and a showoff”, mumbled Percy and crossed his arms over his chest.

An awkward silence fell between them and Nico regretted butting in on Percy's past. He himself had certain things he didn't like to talk about so he understood. The only difference was that Percy knew every detail about those things, may it be his mothers death, the following nearly eighty years or how his sister passed away too early. But Percy too had his taboos. They may not be ghosts haunting him, but still so sensitive or painful to remember.

“I'm sorry. I know you don't like it when someone brings your first stepfather up”, whispered the son of Hades with guilt written all over his face.

“I don't know what you're talking about. That's been past for years now, I don't care”, declared the older demi-god with an ultimate tone to his words.

“Sure”, snorted Nico. “Whatever. I've IMed Clarisse and told her the address so they could find us once their plane lands. You can... also take a shower if you want, I'll just go and fetch us something to eat. I'm out of, well everything, since I thought I'd leave for the summer.”

Percy just nodded, refusing to look at the other. The curly-haired teen sighed and turned around, taking the nearest shadow to leave his apartment. He really wondered what exactly had happened between Percy and Sally's first husband. All Nico knew was a name. Gabe. But more details just wouldn't come. Grover acted like a guilt-ridden child caught with his hand in the cookie jar when asked about Percy's step-father, so Nico dropped the topic. Clarisse didn't know a thing about it, because she befriended Percy at the same time as Nico did. And Annabeth? Whenever he asked the blonde daughter of Athena, she would only get that sad, hurt look in her eyes and remain silent.

When he stepped out of the shadows, he stood in front of his favorite restaurant in Tokyo. He knew the owners, a nice, old couple that had taken a liking in him ever since he first arrived in Tokyo at the age of ten. They were like the grandparents he couldn't remember (it was not possible to count the titan lord Kronos and his wife Rhea as grandparents, seriously not). Of course, he had told them many stories about Percy (monster-free, of course) and also about his liking of blue food. So when he said that Percy stayed over at his place, he got a 'Percy special' as they called it. The rice was colored blue with food dye, and so was the fish. They made a joke and included it on the card after Nico had told them, and it was surprisingly welcomed by the guests. Maybe because it was refreshingly different. After taking the food, he decided to go and get some other stuff. Let's just say, he had been in many different countries and many different stores just to get the greatest variety of blue food possible.

Once he got back he put everything perishable into the fridge and set the living room table for two persons. He waited ten minutes and started worrying. Even though Nico could hear water running in his bathroom, he still worried. He had been gone for quite some time and yet the son of Poseidon still hadn't finished his shower? Maybe a monster had somehow found it's way inside his home? Or something else had happened? His worries increased and he stormed through his bedroom, stopping abruptly when he heard voices coming from the bathroom. Voices, as in more than one. Who was the shorter half-blood talking to? In the bathroom? During a shower? He certainly hadn't gone outside and met someone while Nico had been away. Right? Not in such a short time. And he certainly wouldn't take a shower with a stranger. In Nico's shower. Right?

The son of Hades stormed inside the bathroom.

“ _Nico_!”, screamed Percy flabbergasted.

“Heh, di Angelo the peeper!”, laughed another voice.

Percy blushed a crimson red, gripping one of the towels from the shelf next to him (black towels, whoever owns black towels?) and covering himself. The mist caused by the steaming-hot water showed the face of a greatly amused Jake Mason.

“What in the name of all Gods are you doing?”, hissed Nico enraged.

“IMing?”, answered Jake with a blink of his eyes before it dawned him. “Oh, good Lady Hera, no! We didn't—not what you're thinking, you perv!”

“I'm the perv? Who exactly is peeping at Percy in the shower?”, growled the son of Hades.

“Both of you are and now shut up!”, interjected Percy angrily and silenced them.

“Well, eh, yeah. Just... IM me later, after you've cleared your boyfriend's jealousy-issues”, said Jake before his face vanished in the mist.

“What – exactly – were you doing?”, demanded Nico to know.

“What did it look like? I took a shower when Jake IMed me, we talked for a while and then you came bursting through the door like a husband catching his wife with the plumber”, hissed Percy. “That's many things and far from cool. And now get the Tartarus out of here.”

Nico nodded dumbfounded and stepped out of the room. It had been years since Nico had been target of this glare and voice. Without much patience he walked in circles around his living room. He waited until Percy stepped out of his bedroom, fully clothed and still quite angry.

“And now you'll explain to me why exactly you freaked out like that”, demanded Percy.

“Look – Perce... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... freak out like that. I'm just worried about you, is all.”

“Worried? You express your worry very different”, hissed the long-haired teen.

The son of the Sea God took a defiant stance and held his distance.

“I've already watched you break once and I won't watch it again.”

“I don't know what you're talking about”, wondered the son of Poseidon.

“Your breakup with Annabeth broke your heart and watching you broke mine, too.”

“But, Nico... What do you expect me to do? To never fall in love again? For as long as there is love, there will always be heartbreak. But what would life be without love? Some of my most beautiful memories are of my time with Annabeth and I wouldn't want to trade them for anything, however great the pain I've suffered may be.”

“But... it didn't do you anything good. You may not have realized it, but you're slowly destroying yourself and breaking your heart again would leave you with unbearable damage.”

“I'm not destroying myself, Nico”, whispered Percy and shook his head.

“Yes, you are. You're skipping meals, you're not sleeping well and you're in a hero-overdrive. You take extra shifts at watch and whenever a dangerous mission takes place, you'll take part in it. You jump at every monster, trying to protect everyone you love, always. You've already saved the world, but you can't save everybody. You just can't. You've changed ever since your breakup with Annabeth and I don't want to watch you go through all of this again.”

Percy sighed and sat down on the fur, crossing his legs, resting his head in is hands.

He hadn't intended to worry his friends. He didn't even notice himself how much he had changed in the course of the last three years. How could he? His focus was on the future and not on the present.  
“I don't know what to do with myself... I feel so useless...”, whispered Percy barely audible.  
“But... Why?”, asked Nico confused.  
It wasn't like the older demi-god was a loner like Nico himself, no, there were always people gathering around the son of Poseidon. New campers that wanted some kind of advice, older campers wanting to trade a story, friends wanting to spend some time with the hero of Olympus.  
“Ever since I've met Grover, I had a purpose in life. I've been the slayer of the minotaur and Medusa, retriever of the master bolt, finder of the golden fleece, destroyer of the labyrinth, hero of Olympus. I've been defined as a hero and saver to others for five years. And after that, I've been the boyfriend of Annabeth and leader of camp, but after the breakup... All that's left was camp and even there I've felt useless... There were barely any big monsters and there were so many new campers and I didn't know how to go on...”  
“But your _mother_ told me you didn't eat or sleep properly! Why are you feeling useless at home?”, insisted Nico stubbornly.  
Silence fell between them, only the slightly ragged breath of the son of Hades could be heard and the Italian wondered if he'd be getting any kind of answer at all. But looking down at the shorter teen made his heart clench and himself wonder if he even wanted those answers. The boy looked so lost and confused and broken, it scared Nico beyond belief.  
“I've always protected my mother, my whole childhood... The only thing on my mind was protecting my mother, so _he_ 'd never hurt her. Never her... But after I've discovered who my real father was and we... finally got rid of _him_. And now? She got Paul, she's happy. She doesn't need me anymore. No one needs me. My mom's pregnant, she and Paul are going to have own children, children who they won't have to worry about monsters and the apocalypse with. And camp's fine without me, too. I've finished school and I don't want to interfere with their family life. But I don't know if I could stay year round at camp. Not with all these memories everywhere. Memories of Grover, Annabeth and me and our time together. Of how Silena asked Beckendorf out the first time, or how Beckendorf had been the only one by my side when it came to Tyson. Memories of Lee and Michael and Castor and Zoë and--and of Bianca... And of... Luke...”  
The last two names seemed to hurt the most, guilt evident in Percy's voice. But the last name was a mere breath and it was only due to Nico knowing that this name had to come, or otherwise he wouldn't have been able to catch it. Too much pain, caused only by saying it.  
“I... I know that I'm at ease with them, they don't blame me for their deaths and I--I stopped blaming myself for their death too, years ago... But it still _hurts so much_. Will it ever stop hurting? I can't look at the Hephaestus cabin without expecting Beckendorf to step out of it and smirk at me! I hate seeing those Barbie dolls from Aphrodite cabin, because it makes me remember that the bravest child of Aphrodite died in my arms and sometimes when I see a pretty girl with bright blonde hair, I'd tap her shoulder because I'm so sure it's Silena, but it never is... There are so many memories I treasure about them, but as happy as they make me, they sadden me just as much...”  
“Then don't return to camp, not if all those memories keep haunting you”, concluded Nico.  
Percy lifted his head and stared at Nico and it was the first time ever the child of Hades saw him cry. Never before had he ever seen the proud hero cry, not after his friends died, not during the final battle, never.  
“I don't know where I belong anymore...”, sobbed Percy.  
There were too many emotions, bottled up for far too long and maybe, maybe Nico had been right and he had been self-destructive, but only because he didn't know how to go on anymore.  
“I feel like an intruder every time I look at my mom and Paul and see how happy they are... And it feels like someone's stabbing me right into the heart and turns the knife painfully slow around, because I know that she deserves this happiness. She had deserved it all along, but it was because of me that she had married this alcohol-addicted gambler and had to live in this rat-hole of a flat for twelve years, working double shifts over double shifts, just to keep the little standard we had in life... She had to wait for so many years to fulfill her own dreams. All because of me. And I know she loves me and did it gladly because she would have done everything for me, but I love her just as much and I wish I could have done everything to make her happy, too, because she gave so much up just for me... I... I can't stay there and watch them every day, it only reminds me of all these years with Smelly Gabe she had to endure because of me...”  
“What... What had he done?”, asked Nico reluctantly.  
Percy had never been this open about his feelings with him, so chance was the son of Poseidon would tell him, finally tell him, the whole story about his time before camp.  
“He beat me when he was drunk and my mom was out of the flat... I only ever wanted to protect her...”, was the somber answer.  
With wide, horrid eyes stared the son of Hades at the other half-blood, before he laid his arms around him and hugged him close, as close as possible.  
“You don't have to go back home if it pains you to remember, you don't have to go back to camp, if it hurts too much and you certainly don't have to be alone”, whispered Nico soothingly, stroking the black soft hair of the sobbing mess in his arms.  
“Where else should I go?”  
“You're staying with me, everything is all right. You don't have to remember what hurts the most. I know, I know how much it hurts to loose those close to you and I know you don't want do be reminded of them on every occasion...”  
Nico kept mumbling sweet nonsense until the son of Poseidon was fast asleep. He carried the light weighted demi-god into his bedroom and laid him on the king-sized bed.  
With a sigh he cleared the table, putting the food into the fridge, before he joined the smaller half-blood in the big bed.


	7. How Hansel and Gretel Got Lost in the Big City Jungle

_**7\. How Hansel and Gretel Got Lost in the Big City Jungle** _

  
Sunday had been a very confusing day, to say the least. Conan laid wide awake in his bed and wondered how one day could turn his whole world upside down.  
The only thing he had to worry about when he first woke up that morning had been to spend the afternoon with his crush.  
Now things just got more confusing and complicated. No, they got simpler. He didn't have to worry anymore because of his mingled feelings for both the captivating phantom thief and the flamboyant teenage magician. But at the same time things got so much more complicated. Complicated in ways he never wanted to picture. He was a detective. He should arrest criminals when he faced them. But how could he arrest Kaito? No. No, he couldn't, not the charming, chaotic idiot. It was the first time in Shinichi's life that he wished he wasn't a detective, because then he wouldn't be in this predicament. But if he wouldn't be a detective, he would have never met KID. Why did life have to be so complicated?!

Monday morning passed without him noticing much of the day. Neither breakfast, or his walk to school, not the lessons he attended, nor the breaks with the Shounen Tantei-dan.

“You seem to be far away with your thoughts, Kudou-kun”, commented Haibara once the two of them were alone on their way home.

“I don't know, Haibara...”, whispered Conan with an aggravated sight.

“You're unfocused today. Did something happen while I was away with hakase? It hasn't to do with... them?”, asked the girl sharply.

“No, no, no... It's just...”, drawled Conan.

“Your precious thief?”, guessed Haibara with a knowing smile.

The redness that covered Conan's cheeks was answer enough for the girl and she chuckled lowly.

“Well... I... I discovered his true identity”, sighed the shrunken detective.

“You mean to say you finally acknowledged the truth evident for months now.”

“What?!”

“Even I noticed the obvious behavior of Kuroba-kun and it was only due to your _personal_ interest in the thief, you didn't acknowledge what you knew all along”, explained Haibara with a mild smile.

She looked at him like he was really dumb and oblivious. And Conan knew he deserved that look.

“So, if I conclude correctly, you're right now confused about your feelings?”

Why is it that she sounded so highly amused about this? Such a sadistic scientist.

“Well—It's just... He's a thief... Am I not supposed to get him behind barns?”, he didn't sound very convincing, or convinced himself.

“A very great detective told me once that there's only one truth. Maybe you should look deeper to find this one truth”, advised Haibara with a fond smile.

“What truth...?”, mused Conan with knitted eyebrows.

“Is he the guilty criminal that deserves punishment, or is he the helpful friend that deserves trust?”

“A friend...”

“...Or more”, completed the girl with a helpful smile.

“I don't know what you're implying”, growled Conan with annoyance in his voice.

“I'm not implying anything, I'm only stating the obvious”, chuckled Ai good amused.

Conan blushed a crimson red and averted his eyes, only to catch a glimpse of something he didn't await. His eyes widened and he gaped at the retreating figure.

“Kudou-kun? Everything alri--”

No, obviously not, because Conan made a mad dash after the man. Ai didn't hesitate and followed him, screaming after the glasses wearing boy.

“What are you doing?!”

“That's him!”, was all Conan said before he fiddled for his handy.

 

In the dormitory of a certain university in Tokyo sat one very bored teenage magician.

“Dear Lord, Kuroba-kun, please, do it finally!”, growled a very nervous half-Brit sitting on the opposite bed.

The messy-haired teen blinked confused and tilted his head.

“Excuse me, Hakuba-kun?”, asked Kaito irritated.

“You haven't pranked me all day, you didn't steal anything, or juggle it, or re-paint it, or re-arrange it! You've been sitting there, on your bed, for one hour. Without doing anything! You drive me crazy! What in the world is your problem?!”

Kaito blinked again. He hadn't realized he was that quite. He just had many things on his mind.

Shinichi knew his true identity. And better yet – he didn't plan on doing anything about it! Was there reason to hope? He certainly hoped so!

“Don't tell me, you've been with Conan-kun again yesterday. You didn't do anything inappropriate, did you?”, asked Hakuba slowly.

“I don't know what you're talking about!”, objected Kaito.

The blonde detective only rolled his eyes and laid the Sherlock Holmes book he had been reading aside, focusing his gaze on the teenage magician.

“You may still deny your identity as Kaitou KID, but I know it for a fact. And I am not that oblivious, I noticed the way KID-san clings to 'his tantei-kun' and the way you cling to Edogawa-kun. Even though Edogawa-kun may overlook your overly affectionate behavior.”

Kaito gulped. Hakuba's accusations had been unnerving, annoying and irritating for most of the times, but he took it too far these days.

“What are you accusing me of? Being a pedophile?”, growled Kaito annoyed.

“Oh, no. By no means. On contrary to your believes, I am a very good detective. Unlike Mouri-san and Mouri-chan did I figure out that there is more to Edogawa-kun than obvious to the eye. I didn't figure out what exactly it is, but Hattori-kun's slips whenever he calls him 'Kudou' are some good hints. And the physical parallels between Edogawa-kun and Kudou-kun, likewise the date of disappearance of Kudou-kun and appearance of Edogawa-kun are evident enough.”

“What are you saying?”

“That your narcissism finally reached it's peak”, grunted the half-Brit.

“That's not narcissistic! We don't look that much alike!”, objected the messy-haired teen. “And besides, you don't have any proof! You're talking nonsense!”

Kaito crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. Why did he have to share a room with this annoying Holmes-geek? But before he could start ranting over this nuisance, his cell phone rang. He grabbed it from his bed-stand and opened it.

“Moshi moshi?”

“ _Oi, Kuroba-kun!_ ”

Kaito gasped. It was the first time Conan called him willingly! Oh, joyous, joyous day!

“Conan-chan! How wonderful to hear your voice!”, chirped the thief.

“ _No time for smalltalk. I just saw the suspicious man from yesterday!_ ”

Kaito stiffened, worry evident on his face.

“You didn't do anything reckless like following him, right?”, asked Kaito, even though he already knew the answer to that.

“ _We're near the professor's! I can't let him get aw--_ ”

Conan's voice died down, there were screams and loud, irritating noises.

“Conan-kun? Conan-kun?! ...Fuck...”, mumbled Kaito and stared at his cellphone.

“Kuroba-kun? Is everything all right?”, asked Hakuba worried.

“No, nothing is all right!”, growled Kaito antsy. “He's chasing a criminal again and then the line just went dead!”

“Hm...”

“What's that supposed to mean?!”, hissed Kaito wide-eyed.

He jumped up from his bed and paced the room, collecting different items that could be useful. In his mind was a plan slowly forming. First things first, he knew where Conan was when he phoned him, so he needed to get there. And then... He had no idea. Once he reached the door, he was surprised to see Hakuba standing next to him.

“As far as I understand, you could need the help of a detective. And as fate wills it, I am a detective.”

Kaito nodded and opened the door. This was about Shinichi and he would take every help he could get, even if it meant working with the half-Brit. But once he had the door open, he blinked irritated.

“Oh, where are you boys going? I wanted to ask Hakuba-kun if he wants to learn for the next exam with me.”

“It seems I don't have time, Sera-chan”, apologized Hakuba.

“Well, I see. So... Where are we going, boys?”, grinned the girl and followed the other two.

“We're going to find Edogawa-kun”, explained the half-Brit.

The two detectives followed the thief tail, out of the dormitory, all the way until they reached the professor's house. Right next to the Kudou Manson. Kaito stopped and stared at the Kudou's big house with wondrous eyes.

“So, when Conan-kun called you, he said he was near the house of the professor?”, asked Masumi with a measuring glance.

Kaito nodded and the three teens parted ways, searching the area for any kind of evidence.

“Do you think something happened to Conan-kun?”, asked Masumi with worried eyes.

“I doubt it. Edogawa-kun is very capable of surviving”, answered Saguru and shook his head.

The girl nodded doubtfully. She too knew that Conan was very good at staying alive, after all these murderers and psychopaths he had faced off. But that didn't change her worry. Because the boy was still trapped in the body of a 9-years-old. She kept musing over the shrunken detective, until she stumbled over something. With irritation looked the half-American down.

“Guys! I found something!”, screamed the girl loudly.

Within half a second stood Kaito next to her, followed by Saguru. There, on the ground in front of them, laid a blue cellphone with a soccer ball charm. Cautiously picked Saguru it up.

“It indeed is Edogawa-kun's. All in all, I suppose we have a case of kidnapping”, concluded the blonde detective concerned.

Kaito crouched down next to the place where the cellphone had laid. Red, tiny drips led away.

“Is that... blood?”, whispered Kaito and gulped.

“Ah, indeed. There's also blood on the cellphone. It seems Edogawa-kun cut himself on his cellphone”, agreed the half-Brit.

“The blood drips lead a way. Maybe Conan-kun did it on purpose so we can follow the hints”, noticed Masumi and followed the tiny drips.

Kaito nodded and grabbed the cellphone from Hakuba, tracing the little lucky charm. He needed to find Shinichi. This man, they had seen him the day before at the crime scene. A suspicious, shadowy figure, creepy in itself, with mad eyes. But before they could report to Megure-keibu, the man had disappeared in the crowd. This man was dangerous. The corpse was evident enough for that. Don't. Don't think of what could happen to Shinichi if he was in the hands of this creep.

“It stops here”, sighed Masumi and shook her head.

Kaito scanned the area, noticing a little cafe on the other side of the street, he ran over the street, stopping in front of a pretty waitress. With a forced smile – thank dad for the pokerface – he produced a pink rose and gave it to the girl.

“Excuse me, ojou-san, but did you see a 9-years-old, brunette boy with glasses around here, maybe half an hour ago?”, asked the magician.

Hakuba and Sera came to an halt next to the messy-haired boy and stared intensely at the waitress.

“Err, yeah, he, his sister and their father drove away, about half an hour ago.”

“His sister?”, asked Masumi confused.

“Yeah, a little girl with short blonde hair. She had fallen asleep and her father was carrying her. The little boy was bleeding and their father hurried to get them home”, smiled the girl.

“What did their father look like? And where were they heading? In what kind of car?”, asked Kaito in a rush.

“They drove with a black van, this way. It's a one-way street, there are only a few, old houses in that direction. Oh, and their father was a very tall brunette with a worn out jacket.”

That's the man. And he hadn't only gotten Conan, but also Ai. This kept getting worse.


	8. Golden Mary Gets His Shower

_**8\. Golden Mary Gets His Shower** _

 

The first thing Percy noticed when waking up was the warm body behind him and the arms that were securely wrapped around his waist. Subconsciously, he snuggled deeper into the tight embrace. Hot breath was tickling his neck. Reluctantly opened the son of Poseidon his eyes, just to look into his own face. On the bed-stand next to him stood a photo of himself, Nico and Clarisse. Percy stood in the middle, having both his arms draped around his two friends, all three of them smiling broadly into the camera.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty”, whispered a raspy voice into his ear.

“Morning, Ghost Prince”, answered the long-haired half-blood.

“Did you sleep good?”, asked the taller teen, drawing signs on Percy's stomach.

“I... yeah...” The son of Poseidon paused for a few minutes and the pair only laid together in silence. “Nico... About yesterday...”

Percy was reluctant, he stopped again, unsure about his next words.

“Yes? If it's about my offer, I meant it. You can stay here as long as you want.”

The younger demi-god was pushed away violently and Percy stood up abruptly. Nico blinked and looked up at the other confused.

“Don't! I can take care of myself! I don't need your protection”, growled Percy.

His angered gaze was directed at Nico and the son of Hades wondered how he deserved this.

“Look, I don't really know why I told you all of this in the first place! But I didn't mean to get your pity, because that's the last thing I want from you!”

“Perce... That's not pity, you seaweed brain”, sighed Nico and shook his head.

He too stood slowly and reached out for the son of Poseidon, wrapping his arms around Percy's waist, laying his forehead against the others.

“This is called friendship. I know you can take care of yourself. But I care about you, very deeply, because you are the most important person in my life and I hate to see you hurt. I want to help you, like you helped me. After... After Bianca's death, you did everything to help me. Now, let me help you. You try to protect everyone, let me protect you, Perseus Jackson.”

Percy stared up into those deep, dark, caring eyes and wrinkled his nose.

“Don't call me Perseus”, mumbled the older boy and smiled halfheartedly at Nico.

“You don't protest when I call you little merboy, or Perce, or Sleeping Beauty, but if I call you by your full firstname you object?”, chuckled the son of Hades.

“If we are going to live together, you have to accept that I don't like being called Perseus.”

“This means you will move in with me?”

“If... If you really mean it. I don't want to be a bother, just because I don't know how to deal with my own life. I really don't want to butt into your life.”

“You're not butting into anything, in fact this is a very selfish request from me.”

“What do you mean...?”, asked Percy confused and tilted his head.

Nico decided that this was the once-in-a-lifetime. So he set everything on one card and lowered his head until his lips touched Percy's. It wasn't so much a kiss as a chaste touch of lips.

“Wh... What...?”, stuttered the son of Poseidon shocked.

“You **are** the most important person in my life. Not only because you are my best friend, but because you own my heart.”

Percy blinked and gaped at Nico. Crimson colored his cheeks.

“I don't want to see your heart break ever again. If you would give me – give us – a chance, I'd do anything for you. If you would give me your heart, I'd treat it like the most precious thing in this world, because it is. I've watched you from afar for too long, but you were with Annabeth and after your breakup, I wanted to wait for the right, appropriate point to tell you. And after you opened up to me yesterday I have a feeling that this is it. The right moment. Perce, I love you, I've loved you for a long time now, and I want to keep you save. I want to be the one protecting you, holding you when you're crying, laughing with you, being with you.”

They looked into each others eyes for the longest of time until Nico lost it.

“Percy, please, say something. Anything. And if it's rejecting me, everything would be better than your silence!”, rushed Nico irritated.

Instead of saying anything, Percy slowly lifted his arms and slung them around the taller one's neck, pulling the son of Hades closer until their lips were firmly pressed together. Long, pale fingers clawed into black curls, Nico's hands wandering down to squeeze the firm ass of his love. Percy moaned wantonly and pushed himself away from the taller demi-god.

“I'm sorry, Perce... If that's too much, I didn't mean...”, whispered Nico.

“No need to be sorry, Ghost Prince. I just... I want to talk first, before our minds are too clouded to think clearly”, answered Percy and shook his head.

“Yeah, you're right. Let's talk first”, agreed the son of Hades and let himself fall onto the bed again.

Due to his grip around Percy's waist, the shorter half-blood was pulled down on top of him. He gasped and looked Nico irritated into the eyes. The son of the Death God grinned mischievously and sat up, leaning against the head-board, pulling Percy into his lap. The Sea Prince sighed and leaned against the broad chest.

“You... have been in love with me for years...?”, breathed the son of Poseidon unbelieving.

“I've had a crush on you ever since we first met. But it developed into more over the years. I wanted to tell you after the war, but when I reached camp, everyone was talking about what a cute couple you and Annabeth were and it's been too late. And after your breakup, you needed a best friend and not a lovesick rebound. I decided to wait, but I didn't know how long.”

“I wish you would have been at camp before Annabeth and I came together. Maybe everything would have turned out differently. Better.”

“It's too late to think about what could have been. I would love to hear from you what the future will bring”, urged Nico and stroked Percy's stomach.

“Well, I guess I will move in with my boyfriend”, drawled the son of Poseidon slowly and giggled.

“Mh... Boyfriend. I like the sound of that. Percy Jackson, my boyfriend. Yeah, sounds good. Really, really good. And you, you'll stay with me. Oh! I have so many things to show you! Tokyo is a wonderful city! You'll love it!”

“How about you show me breakfast first? And if I recall correctly, we're here because of a quest and not for sight-seeing”, grinned Percy and laid his hands on top of Nico's.

“Yeah, yeah. After the quest, we'll do the sight-seeing. And now let's catch breakfast! You, go to the living-room and make yourself comfortable and I'll fetch the food”, grinned Nico broadly.

With a chuckle stood the older demi-god and left the room, followed by the taller half-blood. Percy made himself comfortable on the soft fur and he watched his new boyfriend bringing two dishes with something looking like fish and rice.

“Itadakimasu!”, smiled Nico.

“What?”, asked Percy irritated.

“Enjoy your meal. You so have to learn Japanese if you really want to stay here”, laughed the son of Hades and started eating.

“Say... Why is the food blue?”, wondered the older teen and ate.

“There's this really nice couple that owns a restaurant, my favorite restaurant, and I've told them about you and your tick about blue food so they dyed one of their dishes blue and included it on their card”, told the taller teen.

“You... told them about me? What exactly?”, squeaked Percy and blushed.

“Just that you are the most beautiful, the cutest, the hottest and the most awesome boy alive with the nicest ass ever”, grinned Nico and winked at the shorter teen.

Percy averted his eyes and his blush deepened.

“You should know that I'm not good with... relationships. I mean – you have seen how it went down with Annabeth and me. And my first relationship...”, his voice broke at the end.

“Wait, what? Didn't you say that Annabeth was your first girlfriend?”, asked Nico irritated.

“She was... But... Something only a few people – namely Connor and Travis, because they were noisy and stumbled over us – know is... When I first came to camp and met Luke for the first time, his charm and his smile and... We were together, even if it was only a short time and even if it ended with him trying to kill me. So you see, my relationships never have a good ending. And I don't want to loose you.”

“You won't loose me, not one way nor the other”, promised Nico and squeezed Percy's hand. “I promise you, I'll be a way better boyfriend to you than Castellan had ever been.”

“That's way too cheesy for my taste. Especially at that early hour. Please, first of all, give me something to eat so I can properly throw up”, grunted an annoyed female voice.

The boys jumped and turned toward the elevator. There, in all her glory, stood one daughter of Ares with a cheeky grin adoring her face.

“Clarisse! How was your flight?”, smiled Percy and jumped up to greet her.

Nico strode back into the kitchen to get another plate and some more of the 'Percy special'. The girl sighed aggravated and sat down on the couch.

“Horrible. Next time, I'll take Nico Travels, too, because anything would be better than that. It took way too long, we had to wait half eternity and the food was shitty. Oh, and once we landed we – Food! Real food! – Well, anyway. Once we landed, we got to Akako's place. And that was the creepiest horror-show I've ever seen. Even my ghost ship back when we went to the Sea of Monsters hadn't been as creepy as that villa. I won't be spending one more minute there. May the witches live together, I'm staying here”, growled Clarisse and digged into her food.

“Of course, you're always welcomed. I have a guest room, if you want to take it.”

“And where's the little merboy staying? In the pond?”, chuckled the brunette and raised an eyebrow.

“No, I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with my _boyfriend_ ”, grinned Percy and cuddled himself next to Nico, who slung an arm around the shorter teen.

“Don't tell me you two finally figured it out!”, mumbled Clarisse, trying to gulp down her food.

“Oh, we so did, War Princess”, grinned Nico and high-fived the girl.

“Great! Now me, Chris and you two can finally double-date!”

“Wow, that been your greatest concern?”, laughed Percy and shook his head.

“So, anyway, when do we start with our quest?”, changed Nico the topic.

“Lou, Akako and I had been searching for this Kaito Kuroba character that Akako is calling the dove, but we couldn't find him.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”, asked the Sea Prince.

“Exactly what I said. We went to the university where he and Akako are studying, but he wasn't at his dorm-room. Neither was his room-mate. But the room-mate's girlfriend had been very angry and pondering the poor door. Akako asked the girl about their whereabouts, but she couldn't say anything either. Seems the two and another girl had disappeared. But Akako said that for them it's nothing new to just disappear. Because two of them are detectives and they always take on some ridiculous cases they seem to stumble over. However that is possible.”

“Oh, believe me, it is possible. When we came here, yesterday, we literally stumbled over a dead body. That was the grossest I've ever seen”, mumbled Percy and shuddered.

“Yeah, it's not that rare. We have many detectives around here and a high death-rate, with the time you're getting used to it”, grinned Nico and shrugged.


	9. Bluebeard's Collection

_**9\. Bluebeard's Collection** _

 

“What did Aoko want?”, asked Kaito, looking nervously at the half-Brit.

The unusual trio headed down the street, trying to figure out how to go on with their search when Hakuba's cellphone had ringed.

“She said that Koizumi-chan is back from her trip and she wanted to talk to you. Oh, and I'm right now missing our date. But after I explained to her what had happened with Edogawa-kun, she went hysterical. She's on her way to her father, so we're getting backup from the police”, informed Saguru the other two.

“Mh, and what are we doing now? There are too many houses here. How should we find the right one? And what if they drove through it and are right now somewhere else?”, asked Masumi.

Yeah. What now? They needed to find the black van, but how? If it was parked behind the house, or in the garage, or worse if they aren't in the neighborhood anymore?

“We could ring the bells around here, but I doubt it would help”, sighed Kaito defeated.

Masumi and Saguru shot him a worried glance. It wasn't like Kaito to look even the slightest bit defeated. But it was his favorite detective who was right now kidnapped, alone, in the hands of some sicko and the magician had no clue what to do!

 

“Where the hell are we?!”, groaned Haibara and blinked a few times.

Her head hurt since the psychopath they were chasing had decided to knock her out. Leave it up to Kudou to get them both kidnapped.

“Sh! Lower your voice, Haibara! He's not around right now, but I don't know when he'll be back”, hissed Conan.

Their hands were bound together, as were their feet. Haibara couldn't make out where they were but she guessed it was a bedroom. With bars in front of the windows. Great.

“Haibara, give me your Detective Boy Badge.”

“What?”, asked the girl and looked at him like he was a total loon.

His eyes urged her on to not question him. She just sighed.

“In my left pocket, but what do you intent to do? Call the kids for help? You know, they'll do something ridiculous and get themselves kidnapped, too”, scolded the shrunken scientist.

“I do intent to call a KID, but not one of them...”, explained Conan.

Haibara raised an eyebrow, but remained otherwise silent.

 

Kaito jumped when something in his hand buzzed. He looked down at the cellphone, but it was still dead. Though, the little lucky charm beeped. And really! The Detective Boy Badge was pinned at it. How had he overlooked it?! Hastily, the messy-haired teen picked it up.

“ _Kuroba-kun? Please, tell me you already found it!_ ”

“I did! Sh-Conan-kun! Where are you? What happened?!”, asked Kaito in a rush.

“ _No time for big talk, I can hear him coming. Listen, do you remember the first time we met, Kaito-kun?--_ ” And the line went dead again.

The first time they met? What did he want to tell him? He said Kaito, not Kuroba or KID...

“Kuroba-kun? What did he mean by that?”, asked Hakuba with a raised eye-brow.

“Yeah, when was the first time you met? Was there anything special?”, wanted Sera to know.

Special... Special... Anything special... The first time they met... Argh, think, Kaito, think!

He turned around and around and around, his eyes didn't focus on anything in particular, searching for something, anything. A clue, a hint, a sign saying 'Tantei-kun is here', anything!

 

“You noisy little brat!”, growled the man and crushed the badge between his fingers.

The man was dangerous and Shinichi saw it in his eyes. They gleamed with the same insanity as Gin's did. This was not good.

The fist connecting with Conan's face left him numb and disorientated.

“You shouldn't have followed me! Dumb little children, you're not my type, but I have to make an exception”, laughed the man insanely.

Shinichi's thoughts whirled around in his head, he felt empty and irritated. This couldn't be the end. He couldn't die there, at the hands of a psychopath! If any psychopath he would have thought it would be Gin. Not some random stranger.

The doorbell rang and by God, Shinichi had never been more grateful for unexpected visitors. The man stared at him, before leaning down and sealing their mouths off with duct-tape, tying Conan to a chair before leaving.

“Don't worry, I'll take care of you later on”, promised the man.

Conan locked eyes with the shrunken scientist, seeing the worry and the questions in her eyes. Even without words he tried to reassure her that everything would be alright. They got more time, hopefully those at the door weren't witnesses of Jehovah, because then they would meet their end sooner. Kaito needed to hurry; the magician wouldn't let him down. Never.

Blue eyes closed in capitulation when he heard the door closing harshly way too soon. A manic laughing neared them and the face of their kidnapper emerged from the halls. A silver knife glinted in his hand. All thoughts left Shinichi's mind, only the memory of the horribly mauled body reminded. With determined steps he walked up to Ai.

“Ah, you see, I normally don't do women, but this noisy woman came back! You see, I needed to get rid of her. Just like I need to get rid of you”, smirked the man.

The detective threw all his weight against the chair and knocked it over, hitting the criminal. He hissed in pain as the knife was driven into his arm. Craning his neck, he saw that their kidnapper had lost consciousness, because he had hit his head against the wall. Though, he saw two suspects... three...? Why was everything whirling around him?

 

Kaito paced around the street, up and down, closely followed by two very worried looking detectives. Sera and Hakuba exchanged meaningful glances, not daring to say a word. The chiming of a bell caused the magician to freeze in shock.

“What's that? Where's that coming from?”, asked the messy-haired teen.

“I don't know. That must be the clock tower over there”, shrugged the female detective.

She stared over at the other end of the street. A one-family house, nice and pretty, with a garage and a little garden... and a little tower with a clock. Kaito broke into a sprint, running down the street, not hearing the surprised calls of his two friends.

Saguru and Masumi tried to follow the thief as fast as they could, but they nearly bumped into him as he turned sharply right, jumping over the fence of the neighboring house.

“Kuroba-kun! What is the meaning of this?”, hissed the blonde.

“Trust me, he's here”, whispered the magician and stopped at the door, looking closely. “There! There's blood on the door!”

Conan must have left the bloody sign there, just like he did before. The two detectives climbed reluctantly over the fence and stood next to him.

“But how on Earth did you figure out which house it would be?!”, grunted the blonde irritated.

Because the first time they had met was the clock tower heist, because Kudou Shinichi had never entered the clock tower, he was always in the helicopter, and when he had shot at KID, he was to the right of the clock tower. So it had to be this house! But he could hardly say that to his two critics, so he picked the lock instead.

“We can't just go in there”, hissed the half-American.

“Well, what do you have in mind? Just waiting until Nakamouri-keibu arrives, giving the psychopath enough time to do who-knows-what to Conan-chan!”, scolded Kaito.

“No... I suppose you're right”, sighed Masumi. “You know, you're just as reckless as him.”

“But I'm more lucky than him”, smirked the thief and slid inside.

“Where to go now?”, asked the half-Brit critically.

“Maybe we should follow the blood”, suggested the green-eyed woman and pointed at a fingerprint on the wall.

The trio followed it, until they reached a door that was slightly ajar, muffled screams could be heard and they busted in. Ai laid on the ground, gagged and bound with duct-tape, dried blood in her blonde hair. The murderer laid unconsciously on the floor, a broken chair and an equally unconscious Conan on top of him. Kaito ran up to him and cut the tape, lifting the boy up, just to discover the knife that stuck in his arm. He removed it carefully and ripped his shirt to tie it around the injured limp. Relief washed over him after he checked his little critic and discovered that, aside from a slight bump on the head, most likely from his fall, a swollen eye and the cut, the boy was unharmed. No serious injuries. Still, he didn't let go of his tantei-kun, not even when the police arrived and the ambulance was called.

 

A steady, beeping noise disturbed his slumber and Conan grunted irritated. His fingers were clawed into something soft. What was that? The last thing he remembered...

“Haibara!”, gasped the detective and opened his eyes hastily.

“Sh, you're going to wake him up”, chuckled the voice of the shrunken scientist.

Conan blinked in confusion and looked down at the soft thing in his hand. It was hair. Dark brown, messy hair, attached to the head of the most annoying thief to ever grace this planet, who was sitting in the chair next to him, his head resting on top of Shinichi's stomach. The detective blushed brightly, he hadn't even noticed the weight.

“What... What happened?”, whispered the be-glassed boy confused.

“You knocked the bad guy out and got yourself a concussion doing so. Kuroba-kun, Hakuba-kun and Sera-chan found us, they said that it was thanks to your clues that they were able to find us. Nakamouri-keibu came and arrested the unconscious man, while we were brought to the hospital by an ambulance. While Sera-chan, Hakuba-kun and I explained everything to the police, Kuroba-kun didn't leave your side. Not even once. That was yesterday.”

“Oh... And... Are you alright, Haibara?”, asked Conan, staring at the girl that stood at the foot-end of his bed, leaning against it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Yeah, they had released me right away”, shrugged Ai. “Just a bump on the head. You should probably wake your Prince Charming, if you want to talk to him, because Mouri-chan only left to get some coffee and sign the release-papers.”

The blonde left the room and closed the door behind her. Conan looked intensely at the magician.

“If you're Prince Charming, what am I?”, mused the detective with a sigh.

“The damsel in distress. Definitely. You reckless, silly detective, you”, hummed the sleepy voice of the Moonlight Magician.

“Ah...”, every cheeky reply died on his tongue once he laid eyes on the worn out face of the thief, deep, dark circles under his eyes and he swore they were slightly swollen. “I suppose you're right. I shouldn't have run after him like that... I'm sorry I worried you, Kaito-kun.”

“At least you called me, tantei-kun”, mumbled Kaito and climbed into the bed, cradling the shrunken detective in his arms and pulling him close. “Promise me to never pull such a stunt again.”

“I can't make promises we both know I wouldn't be able to keep”, chuckled Conan and leaned against the other's chest, feeling the laugh rumble against his back.


	10. Seven Dwarfs Unite

_**10\. Seven Dwarfs Unite** _

 

Clarisse yawned irritated. This was the most comfortable bed she'd ever slept in. So why in the world did she have to stand up?

“Hurry up, you lazy-ass!”, urged the green-eyed boy in front of her.

“Shut up, you dumb-ass”, grunted the daughter of Ares and threw a pillow at him.

She stood nonetheless and moved into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

“Why do we have to stand up so early anyway?”, complained the brunette through the door.

“Jake asked me a favor yesterday--”, started Percy.

“Yeah, right. While he was checking you out in the shower”, interrupted Nico irritated.

“He wasn't checking me out. Will would chop his balls off for that. You know how jealous the guy can get. Nearly as bad as you”, retorted the son of Poseidon. “Anyway, Jake asked me a favor. There's this half-brother of his in Tokyo, a really awesome and talented half-brother. He's still in contact with camp and had written his siblings about a few of his inventions. Jake asked me to pick a thing or two up for the Hephaestus cabin. So I thought we could go there – he gave me the address yesterday – and then we could meet Lou and Akako there and go back to the campus to look for this Kaito. Sounds like a plan?”

“Kay, I'll contact the witches. And now get out of my bedroom and go annoy your boyfriend!”, ordered the girl and got into the shower.

 

Nico observed his two friends with a fond smile. The duo was running from one side of the street to the other, staring at anything and everything in awe and wonder. They were behaving like the classic tourists, but the son of Hades thought it couldn't hurt to leave them be for a while. It wasn't like they had any urgent meetings, Akako and Lou had said they would need some hours anyway until they could spare the time. Something about Lucifer and that was exactly where Clarisse had stopped asking the witches, so Nico didn't want to know the details either. While he was watching his friends with one eye, he also kept track of their follower. He had noticed two streets ago that someone was following them. A tall man, mid-forties, dark hair with a mustache. This guy was certainly no treat, because really, a monster would at least try not to draw so much attention. Still, it was unnerving Nico that this man was following them. Checking that both Clarisse and Percy were busy looking at something, he turned to the stranger and pushed him into a dark alley, his Stygian iron sword pressed against the man's throat.

“Who are you and why are you following us?”, hissed the son of Hades in fluent Japanese.

“I—I just thought you three are a strange bunch. I've noticed you before, you're the son of Hades.”

“How do you—You're a half-blood too!”, noted the curly-haired teen perplex.

“A son of Dionysus, yeah”, answered the adult. “Every half-blood in Tokyo knows that a child of the Big Three is living here. But I've never seen you with other demi-gods. Something is happening here, monster and strange deaths multiplied recently. Tell me what's going on.”

Nico lowered his sword slowly and contemplated his answer. “You're right. Something big is happening. Maybe the next war, maybe not. But it's big. Really big.”

The stranger – now that Nico could see his face, he was sure he knew the guy from somewhere, maybe the news – looked thoughtful for a split-second before he nodded in gratitude.

“Thanks. I gotta go”, muttered the dark-haired adult and hurried down the alley.

Shaking his head in confusion, the son of Hades went back to his two friends. The daughter of Ares slung one arm around his shoulders and aimed a sly smirk at him, while Percy linked hands with the olive-skinned demi-god, both staring at him expectantly.

“Well, who was the guy?”, asked Clarisse after a few moments.

“I don't know what you mean”, drawled the brown-eyed teen slowly.

“The one who was following us around”, snickered his boyfriend. “Or do you really think we hadn't noticed him, too?”

“Well... You certainly weren't acting like you had noticed”, muttered the taller boy.

“Because it was so cute how you played the protector”, laughed the son of Poseidon softly and leaned up to place a kiss on the Italian's cheek.

A slight blush covered olive-skinned cheeks and Nico coughed. “A son of Dionysus.”

“Oh? I thought Castor and Pollux were the only ones”, wondered Percy.

The son of Hades shrugged and pulled his boyfriend closer so he could wrap one arm around the smaller boy and the other around the brunette girl. The trio soon reached their destination and ringed the doorbell. An elderly man with white-gray locks and a mustache opened them. He blinked confused and averted his glasses.

“May I help you?”, asked the elderly man in Japanese.

“Are you Agasa Hiroshi?”, wanted Nico to know. A nod was answer enough for him. “Excuse me, but since my friends here are from the US and don't understand Japanese, would it be alright to you if we could speak English?”

“From the US? Not from camp, or are you?”, asked the inventor surprised.

“Nico di Angelo, son of Hades”, introduced the brown-eyed teen himself and his friends. “Those are Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares.”

“Ah, then come in, come in! I'm Hiroshi Agasa, son of Hephaestus”, smiled the man.

“It's a pleasure meeting you. Your half-brother, Jake Mason, send us”, explained Percy.

The three teens followed the professor into the living-room where they were more than glad to sit down. The past two hours walking through the city were enough.

“Mason-kun send you, that's nice! He's the new head of the cabin, isn't he? Though, I haven't heard what had happened to Beckendorf-kun...”, muttered Agasa curiously.

“Charles died during the war”, answered the hero of Olympus with sadness.

“Ah... I had feared something like that”, sighed the professor and shook his head.

“He died to accomplish our mission”, whispered Percy.

“Mason send us because of some kind of... inventions?”, interrupted Nico the dark mood.

“Aya! Yes, yes he did. You see, when I was a small child I've been to camp. I went back to my roots when I was older, but I never lost contact to Chiron-sensei and my cabin. I've made some huge inventions, especially in the last five years. Beckendorf-kun had sometimes come to visit, but due to the war and the aftermath of the same it wasn't possible for someone to drop by. Too bad Mason-kun couldn't come himself”, mused the son of Hephaestus.

“So, about what inventions are we talking here?”, asked Clarisse curiously.

“A scholar-working skateboard, a voice-changing bow-tie, a... oh, come with me, I'll show you”, urged Agasa, his eyes sparkling at the mention of his gadgets.

The moment they left the living-room, they heard the doorbell ring. The professor stopped dead in his tracks and seemed to contemplate who that could be.

“I can get the door for you and you show Percy and Clarisse your tinkering”, suggested Nico.

“That would be very nice of you, di Angelo-kun”, smiled Agasa. “It's most likely my... niece.”

The Italian nodded and went to the main-entrance. He froze the moment he recognized the ones in front of him.

“That—That's the brat that had been at the crime scene!”, stuttered the messy-haired boy in front of him, shoving the two children behind him.

“First of all, I'm not a brat. And secondly, I was there by sheer accident”, grunted Nico.

He stared at the other teen, indigo-violet eyes locked with dark-brown ones, both trying to stare the other down. The two children sneaked in, ignoring the two teenagers.

“Agasa-hakase? Are you there?”, called the be-glassed boy irritated.

“Ah, Conan-kun! Wait, I'll come”, called the old man, before lowering his voice a bit and switching to the English language. “How about a tea? I should check on my other guests.”

“A tea would be grate, thanks”, answered a male voice, definitely American.

The professor entered the living-room, followed by two teenagers.

“That's my niece, Ai-kun, and a friend of hers, Conan-kun. Kuroba-kun, would come inside, please? He isn't a treat, that's di Angelo-kun, and those are la Rue-chan and Jackson-kun. They are close friends of my family”, introduced Agasa and ushered them all to sit down.

The three Americans sat down on the couch opposite of the three Japanese. All six of them stared at each other in silence until the professor came back with tea.

“You two have been at a crime scene. How did you manage to get away?”, asked Conan.

“I don't know what you're talking about. We ran, obviously. How else should we have been able to get away?”, snorted Percy irritated.

“Now, now, no fighting, boys!”, chided Agasa. “Those three are here because a family member of mine had asked them to pick something up.”

“Well, I just wanted to drop Ai-chan off after I've picked the kids up from the hospital... But I think I'll stay some longer”, grunted Kaito, fixing the curly-haired teen with a glare.

“You never mentioned you have family in America, Agasa-hakase!”, chirped Conan childishly.

“We all have family in America”, whispered Agasa enigmatically.

“Mh? What's that supposed to mean?”, asked Kaito confused and stared at the things on the desk.

All the little gadgets of his tantei-kun. Even a few detective boy badges. Who were those kids and why was the professor acting so strange? Something was off. Very off.

“I know what that's supposed to mean”, smiled the green-eyed boy with a hint of sadness. “The gray eyes and blonde hair of a child of Athena.”

“How do you know about my mother?”, hissed Ai wide-eyed. “Hakase, explain this please.”

“It never occurred to me that you knew of your mother's origins”, muttered the professor. “But yes, I think it is time to explain a thing or two.”

“What are you talking about?”, grunted the shrunken detective annoyed.

“About something your mother didn't want me to tell you, but I think it's time. Especially seen as times are hard these days. You should know.”

They were, however, interrupted by the doorbell again. The teenage magician stood with an irritated glare to get the door. Whoever was bothering now? This was just turning interesting! He threw the door wide open and stared at the two girls in front of him.

“Koizumi-chan!”, exclaimed the thief surprised.

“Kuroba-kun. How come you're never where I expect you to be?”, muttered the witch.

“Wait up, you said Kuroba. So that's the guy we've been looking for?”, interrupted the American girl beside her. “What's he doing here? We wanted to meet the others here.”

“Yes, that's Kuroba-kun. The one we've been looking for. Maybe it's the strange way the fates are working”, mused Akako with a slight grin. “Say, are la Rue-chan and her two friends here, too?”

“I... Yes. How do you know that?”, grunted the magician now greatly confused.

“Let's get inside. There are many things we have to discuss”, suggested the red-haired girl.

“He doesn't look that special, though”, observed Lou beside her when they entered the rather stuffed living-room, her eyes still glued to the boy with the messy-brown hair.

“You should never judge someone because of their heritage”, chided Percy with a smirk. “I once knew a child of Hermes, who single-handedly saved the world.”

“Then my guessing about Kuroba-kun's father had been right after all”, acknowledged the professor.

“What do you know about my father?”, hissed the magician defensively, first staring at the old man and then turning to the long-haired boy with the bright green eyes.

“I know your father very well”, answered the son of Poseidon.


	11. Once Upon A Time...

_**11\. Once Upon A Time...** _

 

The man with the mustache sighed aggravated. This was not how he had planned for it to be.

“Tou-san? Are you alright? You look so sad?”, asked his daughter.

“Ran... There's something we need to talk about”, muttered Kogoro. “Sit down.”

He wrung his hands and stared out of the window, trying not to look at his only child.

“There... is a reason why your mother and I are no longer together”, started the detective.

“Tou-san, what are you talking about?”, wanted Ran to know.

“You know how I always read the Greek myths to you as a child, right? That... has a reason... Your mother is not just a normal woman, she is a goddess. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and balance. That's where your yearning after something you deem should be yours is rooted.”

“That's nonsense, tou-san! How can kaa-san be a goddess?!”

“The Greek gods are real, Ran. They always have existed, some, the minor gods like your mother, are living between the mortals, while the higher gods are living at Olympus. They sire children with mortals, those children are called half-bloods. I did everything to keep you safe from the dangers being a half-blood brings with it, but I doubt I will be able to do so anymore.”

“What are you saying?”, asked the brunette girl worried and confused.

“I need to send you away, just for some time”, declared her father.

“What?! But where?!”, screeched the karate champion.

 

“Camp half-blood.”

“What's that?”, asked the shrunken detective. “And how do you know about it, Haibara?”

“I'd rather be interested how you”, the magician stared at the green-eyed teen, “know about my father and who the hell you are.”

Percy locked eyes with Nico, receiving a violent head-shake from his boyfriend.

“I'll leave the explanation of the gods, Olympus, Hades and camp to you. And you'll go with me, Kuroba. There are many things I want to talk to you about.”

The hero of Olympus stood and looked expectantly at the messy-haired brunette. An olive-skinned hand shot forward and gripped the pale wrist, dark brown eyes looked even darker.

“I don't like this. I won't let you go alone with this guy”, hissed Nico angrily.

“I don't need your permission, di Angelo”, warned the son of Poseidon. “I've been going on quests without you before and I don't need you to watch me 24/7. Kuroba, if you would come with me?”

Percy shook his boyfriend's hand off and beckoned for the indigo-violet eyed teen to follow him. Even though the thief didn't trust this stranger, but the prospect of knowing more about his father and especially his father's passing was motivation enough. The two teens walked out of the crowded living room side by side, eying each other suspiciously until they reached the backyard.

“What do you know about my father?”, repeated the magician his question.

“Like I said, I know your father very well...”, smiled Percy.

“Don't tell me crap about my father being a Greek god!”, snorted the thief.

“Then let me tell you something about your father and about yourself”, suggested the son of Poseidon and sat down on the grass, staring up into the sky. “You have trouble concentrating, just sitting around drives you crazy. You have trouble reading. You got both ADHD and dyslexia.”

“How do you know that?! I'm fairly good at covering my dyslexia!”, interrupted Kaito.

“Every demi-god got that. It's because our brains are wired for ancient Greek and have a hard time with other languages. Some are better at reading, others are barely able to. And your ADHD are your battlefield instincts kicking in. You're most likely a good fighter, too”, Percy stopped, a distant look in his eyes, still staring at the clouds. “Your father is Hermes, the god of travelers, tricksters, thieves and messengers.”

“What makes you think my tou-san is Hermes?”, grunted Kaito still disbelieving.

An enigmatic smile stretched over the green-eyed teen's lips. “You got his eyes. The same indigo-violet full of mischief. You're most likely a thief, it's hard for you to keep your hands to yourself, because like your father you're born to be a thief. I also guess you prank each and every person you meet, because your father is the biggest trickster ever. You're full of plans and pranks and mischief. You like traveling, most likely through the sky since your father got those neat shoes with the wings. Now your turn. Tell me about your father. When did he leave?”

The magician looked a bit shocked, though still not completely convinced. But the things this boy knew were startling. Still, there was no way his father was a god!

“He had died ten years ago”, answered the thief reluctantly.

“2001... That was the year Luke had reached camp...”, whispered Percy with a sad look, the words not meant for Kaito's ears. “Back in the year 2001 something happened to shake the half-blood society. There was a big prophecy, received fifty years ago, saying that a child of the Big Three – Zeus, Hades and Poseidon – is going to either safe the world or bring the apocalypse. And ten years ago Thalia Grace was found, she's the daughter of Zeus. Everybody thought this was it; the start. Your father returned to Olympus because of the threatening war. There was... he came with Thalia back then... a half-brother of yours, his name was Luke Castellan. He was... full of anger, because the gods didn't care about their children. You see, the gods are not allowed to have close contact to their children. Some break that rule, some... care. I think your father truly loved your mother. My friend, heh, my boyfriend I mean, he's the son of Hades and his father cared about him and his sister, too. He was very in love with their mother. That's what got her killed. Your father wanted to keep you save by distancing himself from you and your mother. The war was... Many had died. Good half-bloods, good friends... He could have told you, he could have brought you to camp, but then you would have lost contact to your friends and your mother. Camp is a save haven for half-bloods, a place of training and schooling for young heroes.”

Indigo-violet eyes darkened, the magician was deep in thought. Both Haibara and the professor acted like all of this stuff about gods and mythological creatures was real...

“This... Luke...? What happened to him?”, asked Kaito slowly.

“He ended the war... He died... in my arms...”, Percy coughed and tried to fight the tears back. “Damn you children of Hermes for being so charming...”

“That... would mean my father is still alive...”, concluded the thief.

“Gods don't die”, smiled the son of Poseidon and nodded.

“I still don't belief you”, snorted Kaito and crossed his arms over his chest.

Percy nodded and stood, walking over to a fountain standing in the garden. The sun shone on it, creating a beautiful little rainbow. Two golden drachmas were tossed into the water.

“Lady Iris, show me Lord Hermes”, ordered the hero of Olympus.

The rainbow flickered and Kaito came up to the other teen, looking over the smaller boy's shoulder into the misty image in front of him. A face became clear, sharp features, indigo-violet eyes, a cheeky grin, dark-brown hair and a mustache.

“Percy! I haven't heard from you in a while! How's it going?”, smirked the man.

“Lord Hermes... I just met a very interesting son of yours”, whispered Percy.

“Tou...san?”, breathed the magician stunned.

“Kaito!”, exclaimed Hermes shocked. “So you got dragged into this after all...”

“But... I... You... You're dead...”, muttered Kaito and took a step back.

“No, I just didn't want to endanger you and your mother”, smiled Toichi.

“That's—too much!”, declared the teenage magician and retreated back into the building.

Once inside, he bumped right into a certain shrunken detective. Something was off with the thief, that much was obvious to Conan. The messy-haired teen looked rumpled, confused and beside himself. Like he had just seen a ghost. And Shinichi was sure as hell that he didn't like that haunted look on his thief even the least bit! He grabbed the taller boy's hand and led him over to the neighboring mansion. The fact that Kaito didn't protest or tease was more than a bit concerning. Worried cerulean blue eyes were turned to the magician once they finally reached the library.

“What's wrong?”

“I... just saw my tou-san... I still remember... the day my kaa-san told me he'd never return and how hard I cried... I remember the funeral and... Everything I ever did was because of that... I became a magician, just like him, I became KID, just like him... To honor him, after his death... But... he's not dead... He... He's a freaking god! And... And... if I understood that correct... I'm just one of a freaking whole lot of pranking, thieving trickster children of him!”

The thief broke down onto his knees, clawing his fingers into the carpet, his head hung low and his whole body shaking with unshed tears. Conan walked up to him and laid his arms around the messy-haired teen, holding him close.

“Don't get all identity-crisis on me here, stupid thief”, muttered the detective with an half-hearted scowl. “You became a magician because you're a magician by heart, not because of anything else. And you didn't become KID because it's in your guts to steal, but because you wanted to stop an evil organization, even though you could have as easily turned your back on it. Maybe with this one thing they are right, you are a born hero. You're not one of a million, you are one in a million. You're special. Even your father knows that, otherwise he wouldn't have spend such a long time with you. Don't doubt that he loves you, he could have just left for Olympus, but he stayed for nine years. And now stop looking so sad, that's too unlike you.”

“Why, detective, watch it, one may think you care about me”, chuckled Kaito and lifted his head.

“Barou, I never claimed I don't care about you”, snorted the Heisei Holmes with a faint blush.

The messy-haired teenager fell back against the table, leaning his head against it's glass and pulling the shrunken detective against his chest. Conan protested half-heartedly before sitting comfortably.

“So... What about you, tantei-kun?”, wondered the magician.

“You may not believe this, but my mother, of all people my mother, is Dike, the goddess of justice and law-enforcement”, chuckled Conan, shaking his head at his own words.

“I think I never had the pleasure of meeting Kudou Yukiko, but if my father is Hermes, I don't find it way too disturbing to imagine your mother being a goddess, too”, mused Kaito. “Say, how come your parents raised you? I mean, they had said gods are not allowed to do so...”

“They're not that much after the minor gods, you see. As far as I understood it, the Olympian gods, like your father, are living at mount Olympus, while the minor gods, like my mother, roam the world most of the time. And my parents never truly raised me, they've always been away, they had moved to America five years ago. Di Angelo-kun explained to me that this was the time the war slowly reached it's peak, so my parents left to help them out.”

“Why both of them? I mean... your father is not a god, too, or is he?”, blinked the thief perplex.

“No, he... di Angelo-kun said my father is a mortal with the ability to see through the mist. And this mist is obviously something covering monster and godly things from the mortal eyes. They also said that all the deaths following me are most likely monsters trying to kill me, though failing miserably. This is all... A bit strange... but...”, the Heisei Holmes stopped abruptly.

Their conversation from this morning came to his mind again. The two had been sitting on the hospital bed for hours, clearing everything about the shrinking and the thievery. About the Black Organization, the Apotoxin, Pandora. And exactly that was confusing the detective right now.

“What is it, tantei-kun?”, asked the magician nervously.

He hated it whenever his tantei-kun tuned the rest of the world out and got that curious, distant look on his face. It was the hardest pokerface Kaito had ever tried to read.

“Pandora... Your father was looking for Pandora... Your father, the Greek god, was looking for a magical gem named after a heroine from ancient Greek mythology... Doesn't that sound a bit suspicious to you, too?”, muttered the Heisei Holmes thoughtful.

“Mh... Maybe we should go and talk to Jackson-kun and his friends about that... I have enough of strange secrets confusing our life. Come on, tantei-kun!”, announced Kaito and lifted his favorite critic into his arms, marching out of the house in determination.

They barked into the professor's to witness the strangest scene they could have anticipated for. The son of Poseidon was waving his hand constantly, water sprinkling from the fingertips of his one hand while his other hand was swatting at the wandering hands of the Italian boy, who was heavily molesting him. The water created a rainbow, which showed the faces of a black-haired boy and a blonde boy. Both Agasa and Ai were conversing with them at the same time, while the witches seemed rather busy talking to each other.

“Ah, is he alright again?”, asked Nico curiously, nodding over to the magician.

“He is, though we have some questions”, answered the shrunken teen. “Who are those?”

“Malcolm Cage, son of Athena, and Jake Mason, son of Hephaestus. Jake wanted to talk to the professor to clear which inventions we should take back to New York with us and since Malcolm happened to be there too he and Haibara started talking and seemed to not being able to stop ever since. What questions do you have?”, retorted the son of Hades curiously.

“There is this gem stone called Pandora--”, started the teenage magician.

“That's what Haibara and Malcolm are talking about right now. This seems to be something very interesting, because we can't seem to figure out what it means. Malcolm said he'd take a closer look into it and – dear Lord Zeus, if you won't stop groping my ass I'll chop your balls off, di Angelo! – call back, but the two of them can't end their conversation, they're right now talking about some... poison that shrinks humans... Damn, and I thought getting told gods exist was strange... – Really now, di Angelo, stop it or you're sleeping on the couch!”

“It's my apartment, Perce”, chuckled the curly-haired teen.

“Doesn't matter, Ghost Prince. Behave or your water may be freezing cold whenever you try taking a shower or a bath for the next time”, warned Percy and hit his boyfriend's arm.

“Percy! Concentrate, the rainbow is waving!”, interrupted Clarisse irritated, trying to understand what Malcolm was saying about the magical gem.

“Sorry, it's hard to concentrate with that perv!”, defended the son of Poseidon himself.

Kaito and Shinichi exchanged looks. This may help them both, but it may also turn out to be crazy.


	12. Sleeping Beauty's Kiss Fails

_**12\. Sleeping Beauty's Kiss Fails** _

 

Kaito was on edge. This was not a normal heist, this was as different as could be. And exactly those different circumstances were setting the thief so on edge.

The Athena cabin back in New York had been researching Pandora, or it's meaning, for the past two weeks now. Reason enough why he and his favorite critic spend much time with the Americans. Surprisingly enough it turned out that he got along very well with the son of Hades. Three days ago they had met up at the Ghost Prince's apartment again to trade information...

 

_~*~ Flashback ~*~_

 

Envious glances were thrown at the happy couple on the couch. The messy-haired Japanese crossed his arms over his chest and huffed slightly. He wanted to cuddle his tantei-kun the same way Nico was cuddling his boyfriend. That was so unfair!

“Kuroba-kun, stop behaving like a little child and listen”, hissed Conan irritated.

The detective had noticed that the thief's mood always changed when they were at their new friends' place, though for the means of his deduction skills he couldn't figure out why.

“Well then, ojou-chan, what did you find out?”, sighed the magician bored.

The shrunken scientist threw him an irritated look at that, the daughter of Ares next to her chuckled slightly, chewing on her onigiri. Clarisse really liked the Japanese food, that was for sure!

“Like Haibara was saying”, answered the brunette American. “Annabeth had returned to camp recently. She's Percy's ex-girlfriend, by the way”, both Nico and Percy flinched at the mention of the blonde. “Anyway, she had always been the cleverest child of Athena, so she was rather helpful.”

A displeased look passed over Haibara's face and she coughed slightly.

“Chase-chan observed some parallels with a story of old times. Do you know the story of the golden apple?”, asked the blonde scientist.

Kaito shook his head and leaned back against the armchair, staring at the shrunken girl in wonder, Conan seated at his feet shook his head, too. The two witches sitting on the fur in front of the television rolled their eyes at that.

“Lady Eris, the goddess of discord and quarrel, created a golden apple, labeled as 'for the fairest'. All the goddesses started fighting over it, thinking they were the most beautiful”, explained Lou.

“What has that to do with anything?”, grunted the magician confused.

“Kuroba-kun, Pandora was a young woman with a jar full of evilness. Something like a magical gem named after her doesn't exist”, sighed Akako, massaging her temples.

“But because your father had been searching for it, there must be something off with that”, added the daughter of Ares, grabbing another onigiri. “And Lady Eris had been missing for years now.”

“That's right. She hadn't participated in the great war, neither on the gods side nor on the titans side. We now think that she made another apple, so to say. Not for the goddesses, but for half-bloods. Because there is nothing more appealing to most half-bloods than immortality”, answered Percy.

The son of Poseidon stretched a bit, his head resting against his boyfriend's chest. An olive-skinned hand rubbed the hero's stomach tenderly, a thoughtful expression on the Italian's face.

“This stone, we think it's fake to cause discord between the half-bloods. However, the question that remains is: How do we find something that's not real...”, mused the son of Hades.

“We know that it's not real, but the Crows don't”, said Kaito slowly and sat up.

“What are you thinking, Kuroba-kun?”, asked the Japanese witch curiously.

“Well...”, drawled the thief with his trademark KID-grin. “I just have to make the Crows believe that I found Pandora. That will certainly bait them out.”

“No”, interrupted the stern voice of his beloved detective.

The shrunken boy was scolding, glaring at the magician angrily and shaking his head vigorously.

“Ah, but Kudou-kun this does sound like a good plan”, interjected Nico cautiously.

“I don't care if this sounds like a good plan”, snorted the be-glassed boy. “That sounds like a reckless and dangerous plan. And those two overweight.”

“Aw, Shin-chan”, cooed Kaito giggly. “No need to worry about me!”

The look aimed his way made every laugh die down immediately, though.

“There is need to worry! We're not talking about an organization full of murderous psychopaths, we're talking about an organization full of murderous psychopaths with demi-god powers!”

“But Shinichi, he won't be alone”, tried Percy to reassure.

The hero of Olympus really liked the shrunken detective, his wits and sarcastic humor remembered him of Annabeth back when they first befriended each other.

“Jackson-kun is right”, agreed Akako, her hands folded on her lap. “We will be there, too. And Kuroba-kun is capable of watching out for himself.”

“Yeah. And the witches got their magic and you got your gadgets and we three got our fighting skills. Listen bud, we have already fought against gods and titans. A few crazed half-bloods ain't a problem there”, nodded Clarisse, licking her fingers after the last onigiri was devoured.

Conan still didn't look very convinced, but he nodded nonetheless, even if reluctantly.

 

_~*~ Flashback End ~*~_

 

“I still don't like that plan, stupid thief”, interrupted an irritated voice his musings.

Kaito, already dressed in his KID-robe, whirled around and faced his little critic. A confident smile spread over his lips, even though it was a lie, because he felt nervous himself by now.

“Why, tantei-kun, you know me! No one gets hurt! I promise that nothing will happen to you!”

“I'm not worried about myself, you idiotic, moronic, stupid thief!”, screamed Conan, his fists shaking with fury, his eyes shimmering. “I don't want anything to happen to you!”

A dumbfounded look replaced his smile and Kaito blinked perplex. He wanted to say something, but his watch beeped and announced the time of the heist. Never before had he been so vexed by his own reliability. He heaved a sigh and and turned around.

“Well, tantei-kun, it's good bye till later then. I gotta go.”

The thief vanished in pink smoke and Conan cursed his little tricks. There were so many things he had wanted to get off his chest before this heist would take place.

“Shinichi? We should get going”, reminded him the green-eyed half-blood.

“Yeah, you're probably right, Percy-kun”, sighed Conan and took the offered hand.

It felt strange to attend a heist without Ran, but she had left without any word of explanation about two weeks ago. He still wondered where to and why, but Kogoro kept his silence. So now he was with Sonoko and the other teens. A chuckle escaped his lips as he remembered how the others had met their new American friends about one and a half week ago.

 

_~*~ Flashback ~*~_

 

“Say, say, where are we going anyway?”, asked Percy curiously.

The three Japanese were leading them to a little café down the street, the son of Poseidon was obediently following, his fingers linked with Nico's. Clarisse grunted in annoyance.

“Your PDA is driving me insane, it's enough that I have to watch you two being all lovey-dovey while we're at Nico's. Can't you keep your hands to yourselves even for the shortest of times?”

“Shut up, War Princess”, grinned the son of Hades. “You're just pissed because you miss Chris!”

“Who's Chris?”, asked Kaito curiously.

“He's her boyfriend, actually, he's a half-brother of yours”, snickered Percy.

“That's right! I hadn't thought of that. Oh, you need to meet him, Kaito! You two will sure get along”, smiled the brunette girl, a distant, dreamy look in her eyes.

Once again the magician huffed in annoyance. It seemed that everybody had their special someone, only his special someone was too oblivious to be for real!

“So, we're there”, announced the shrunken detective.

A blonde teenager at one of the tables waved wildly at them and the son of Poseidon had the feeling this was their destination. Sea-green eyes swept over the little group at the long table. Next to the blonde sat a short-haired brunette, opposite them was a couple, a blonde boy and a messy-haired brunette girl. Kaito jumped over to them and sat down next to the blonde girl, pulling the be-glassed boy up into his lap and motioning for the others to come over.

“Guys, there is someone we really need you to meet!”, smiled the magician broadly.

“This is my younger sister, Ellen Lou”, started Akako to introduce them. “And her friends, Jackson Percy, di Angelo Nico and la Rue Clarisse.” She sat down next to the messy-haired brunette, hugging her briefly in a way of greeting. “Those are our friends from school, Aoko Nakamouri, Saguru Hakuba, Sonoko Suzuki and Masumi Sera.”

“It's good to see someone from the US again!”, smirked Sera.

“You're American?”, Nico surprised, before he got an elbow into his ribs. “Ow, Perce, that hurt! What was that for?!”

The paler teen rolled his eyes and chuckled, leaning in to whisper into his ears. “That's Masumi, she used to be a year-rounder in the old days. She left New York after the war.”

“Hey, Masumi, it's good to see you”, greeted Clarisse and walked over to her.

“Clarisse-nee-chan, how are Sherman-nii-san and Mark-nii-san?”, wanted the female detective to know, hugging her half-sister tightly.

Percy sat down next to the annoyed looking Heisei Holmes and the confused looking thief. A smile playing on his lips, he leaned over to them, mouthing the word 'ex-camper' to them. Understanding dawned on their faces and the duo nodded. The Ghost Prince looked a bit annoyed at the fact that there was no seat left next to his boyfriend so he sat down opposite the son of Poseidon. Lou took the chair between her half-sister and her best friend.

“So you are the sister Akako-chan had been visiting last week?”, asked Aoko curiously.

“Ah, yeah. We haven't seen each other in years now, a visit was over-due”, smiled the American witch and nodded. “She invited me over to her place and I couldn't pass this opportunity.”

“And you are...?”, drawled the blonde detective suspiciously, staring at the other head of the table.

“Nico is my best friend, he has a place in Tokyo and since his boyfriend over there wants to move in with him, we thought we could couple that with me visiting my sister. It's kind of a farewell-vacation for Percy”, answered Lou promptly.

“Oh? You live around here?”, exclaimed Sonoko noisily.

“Yeah, got a place near the tower”, nodded the son of Hades. “Rather big place, I'm glad I'll get someone to share it with now.”

The curly-haired Italian reached over the table and grasped for Percy's hand. A decent blush covered the Sea Prince's cheeks and he coughed a bit. The girls at the table laughed softly.

“So cute! I'd just wish Kaito-kun would finally get a boyfriend, too!”, sighed Sonoko.

“Me too, me too”, muttered the magician aggravated, indigo-violet eyes staring down at the oblivious detective in his lap.

“I'm sure Kuroba-kun will get his special someone, too. Some just need more time than others. It took me six years to get Perce”, grinned Nico reassuringly.

Kaito rolled his eyes at the prospect of another four years of waiting for Shinichi.

 

_~*~ Flashback End ~*~_

 

“Okay, here we part ways, Shinichi”, called Percy's voice him back into the present time.

“I suppose we do”, sighed Conan worried.

“Nico, Clarisse and I'll cover the roof opposite this building, the one where you suspect the 'Crows' to be. You and Kuroba will be alright, the witches said they'll keep their eyes on you, too.”

“The others...?”, drawled the shrunken teen.

“Lou and Akako secured everything with magical barriers so no mortal will pass through. Sonoko and the others will be safe”, nodded the son of Poseidon. “And KID's assistant will bait them in a different direction, far away from our playground.”

“My morals still don't sit well with this”, sighed the Heisei Holmes and shook his head.

“Look, we don't kill”, tried Percy to explain. “At least not if it's not necessary. Our weapons are celestial bronze, mortals can't get hurt by it, it only kills monster, half-bloods and injured gods. And those half-bloods, as far as you informed us, are murderer of innocent people. I know, you as a child of Dike would rather get them behind bars, but let me tell you one thing I've learned during the war. A half-blood that turns to the wrong side is hundreds of times worse than a mortal going crazy.”

“I know, I know”, mumbled the be-glassed boy and shifted a bit. “I still have an odd feeling...”

“It'll pass once this night is over, believe me”, smiled the son of Poseidon and patted the shrunken teen's back. “I'll leave you to it. Keep an eye on the thief!”

“I always do!”, called Conan with a small smile of his own, watching the retreating form of his friend until Percy disappeared behind the next corner.

Shinichi closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the fact that they had back-up. Their friends were out there to keep an eye on them, he had his gadgets, his wrist-watch now with the addition of shooting not only narcotic but also per button celestial bronze needles. And Kaito got his card-gun. Something they both had been surprised to discover; the cards were not made of mere metal, but of celestial bronze, crafted from Hephaestus for Hermes to defeat monster. They were armed, they were ready and they had a plan. No reason for anything to go wrong.

There was only one variable they hadn't counted in.

Conan's relief was great as he faced Kaito off. They could see their American friends fighting on the neighboring rooftop, the two witches on the other rooftop busy chanting. Everything went perfect, the thief would would bring them over to Percy, Nico and Clarisse so they could fight along-side them. The unmistakable click of a safety going off caught their attention.

“Snake!”, growled the magician wide-eyed.

The supposedly murderer of his father stood there, his loaded gun aimed at the little boy.

“Well, well, I thought I had killed you, but it seems I can't kill you. I don't know if you are a god, but I know that you care about that brat over there”, smirked the murderer.

Two shots cut the silence of the night. The celestial bronze card cut the man's throat, the mist flickered, revealing the two snake legs of the monster before he burst into flames.

Dark red spread over white fabric, tainting it's innocent color. Cerulean blue eyes were wide in shock, the detective cradled the thief in his arms.

“No, no, no, no, no”, chanted the Heisei Holmes, shaking his head frankly.

“I... I promised you... you wouldn't get hurt... Not you, tantei-kun...”, smiled Kaito.

Indigo-violet eyes dimmed slowly, the magician coughed blood up, his hand pressing against the wound fell against the stones below them.

“Don't die on me, stupid thief! You can't! There are still so many things I--”, Conan stopped and leaned down, pressing his lips desperately against Kaito's.

The response, weak at first, ebbed until it was no more and all life had left the magician.


	13. Snow White Against the Seven Dwarfs

_**13\. Snow White Against the Seven Dwarfs** _

 

Cerulean blue eyes were dim and dull, staring in the far distance. Percy sighed aggravated, tightening his grip on the grade-schooler some more, they were just on their way back to Nico's place. He had hoped this would be an easy deal, a quest with monsters who get killed and demi-gods who prevailed. The monsters got killed, Clarisse, Nico and Percy had fought hard on the rooftop opposite KID's planned exit, Lou and Akako had soon joined them after they had finished their chanting. Truth be told, there were more monsters than they had anticipated for, but scarcely any evil demi-gods and the goddess they had hoped to find didn't show either. The five had been wondering where Kaito and Shinichi where.

Arriving at the original building and descending the stairs they found the shrunken detective. Conan was hunched over a white figure, stained in red. He was mumbling incoherent things on Japanese, tears streaming down his face.

The boy had been seated on Nico's armchair after they had come home, his eyes were fixed on the lifeless body laying on the couch, covered with a white sheet.

Clarisse busied herself with cleaning the weapons, trying everything to stay out of the living room. She hated death. Well, not death in particular, Nico was a good friend of hers after all. But the death of her friends, that was what she hated. And that just shortly after she had befriended the extraordinaire magician! How dare he just died. He had lived through three years of being chased by them and now that he got backup he had to go and die! Egoistic brat! She polished Maimer harshly and vigorously, this whole situation making her feel angry, sad, dull and so many other things she hated to feel.

“Easy there, girl. You're going to break it”, whispered Percy.

“I'm not going to break him and you know that”, growled the daughter of Ares dangerously.

Sea-green eyes were soft and guilty, his hands covering hers, taking the spear out of her hand and guiding her over to the table where they both sat down.

“Look, just because you're the head of the Ares cabin doesn't mean you're not allowed to cry... He was a friend and it's okay to feel... something”, whispered the Sea Prince.

“Let's make a deal, kelp brain”, grunted the brunette girl. “I'll start crying and sobbing as soon as you'll stop feeling guilty for this night's failure.”

“I don't feel guilty”, declined the green-eyed half-blood lowly.

“Do you remember how you helped me with my father's chariot?” Percy knitted his eyebrows, though he nodded nonetheless. “When my half-brothers attacked us. I still remember your biggest fear. Loosing those you hold close. Forever. Maybe you've found your peace with our friends who had died back in the Battle of Manhattan, but you're still very prone for feeling guilty if someone gets hurt. Especially if it's a friend of yours.”

“Okay, so maybe I do feel guilty. I've been telling Shinichi that this would work, after all. And now the one person he loves the most is dead!”

The black-haired demi-god crossed his arms in front of his chest defiantly. Of course he felt guilty. He was the hero, everybody always expected him to have the ultimate plan. And this ended so much worse than he had hoped. Kaito was great, he was special, with the charm and the wits of a child of Hermes. They had had fun in the past two weeks and Percy had started to look forward into the future. Once this quest would be over and he would officially move in with Nico, he had hoped to spend much more time with the magician and their other Japanese friends, getting a chance to get to know them better. And now the fates had ripped that chance out of his hands. The son of Poseidon sighed and stood, leaving the kitchen through the living room. His gaze lingered at the broken looking Heisei Holmes and the covered body of the Moonlight Magician. Not knowing what to say to the son of Dike, he walked past him. Even though Percy, of all people, knew best how the shrunken detective was feeling. Loosing the one you love to a war...

He steered over to the son of Hades, who stood in the doorway to their bedroom, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes guarded and dark, staring not at the be-glassed but at a point beside him.

“Is he still here?”, whispered Percy, leaning into his boyfriend so Conan wouldn't hear him.

The Italian opened his arms to embrace the smaller teen tightly. A short nod was the answer the son of Poseidon received. Sadness filled sea-green eyes fixed the same point left to Conan, even though he couldn't see anything there.

“He refuses to leave”, breathed Nico against the pale ear-shell. “I've tried to tell him to go, but he refuses to leave Shinichi's side. He's standing left next to him, trying to touch him, but...”

“He can't”, nodded the Sea Prince in understanding. “Wouldn't it be easier if you would... I don't know, play the messenger between them? Like, Melissa Gordon, or Allison Dubois?”

“First; you watch too much TV. And secondly, that's not how the world works. That's not how the human heart works, not in real life... If I would go in there and tell Shinichi, tell him how much Kaito loves him, that he is Kaito's world, that Kaito would die over and over again if it would mean to save Shinichi's life, do you truly, sincerely believe that it would make it any easier for Shinichi to let him go? Do you think that it would help any? Do you think Shinichi really doesn't already know? There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that could be said to make it any easier.”

“I think you're wrong”, disagreed Percy solemnly.

The son of Hades made a questioningly sound in the back of his throat while he took a step back, leading them both into the bedroom, closing the door so Conan wouldn't hear them.

“I think it would help him. I know it would help him. It would have helped me.”

“No, it wouldn't. I know it wouldn't.”

“What makes you so certain?”, grunted the son of Poseidon irritated.

“I'm the Ghost Prince. Do you think I haven't talked to Castellan after his death? It was hard for you to let go of him, but it would have been so much harder if you had known.”

“Known what?”, his words were sharp edged, an unspoken threat.

“That he had loved you”, muttered the olive-skinned teen reluctantly.

Dark brown eyes observed how the heir of the sea stiffened remarkably. Percy freed himself from the embrace and sat down on the bed, his head hung low.

“You are wrong. I've been wondering... if I ever meant something to him or if he had just used me for his purposes, if I was just a pawn in his games... It had haunted me for months... Believe me, it would have helped me to know that he didn't just... use me”, murmured the son of Poseidon.

Nico's eyes saddened and he nodded silently. He grabbed the door-handle with a sigh.

“Can you... check on the witches? They're in Clarisse's room. I'll go talk with Shinichi and Kaito.”

A small smile tugged at Percy's lips and he stood, placing a soft kiss on the corner of his boyfriend's lips before leaving. He walked straight over to the guestroom where Akako was trying to comfort her younger half-sister. With a soft knock he entered the bedroom.

“Akako, Lou”, greeted the son of Poseidon and sat down on the bed next to the punk girl.

The younger daughter of Hecate sniffed, trying to hide her tears. The otherwise tough girl looked so weak and young, breakable and childish. Percy extended a hand to wipe away a few tears.

“It's not your fault, Lou”, whispered the sea-green eyed half-blood.

“But it was my quest!”, screeched the violet-haired demi-god. “I should have... done something...”

“Did Nico ever tell you about his sister?”, asked the son of the Sea God out of the blue.

“What? No, not really... He doesn't like talking about what had happened...”

“It was a quest. Not my quest, but Zoë's. I've been... eager to join, but I wasn't allowed. Zoë, the head huntress of Artemis, took Grover, Thalia and Bianca with her. More than three. I sneaked away and followed them since Phoebe, Zoë's second in command, wasn't able to come with them I thought I would be the fifth. Before I left, Nico made me promise to keep an eye on his sister. I did. I promised. But we were more than three. Two died. Zoë and Bianca. I've felt really guilty about that, because I had even promised to keep her save. But I couldn't. Because she made the decision herself. She decided to die to safe us others. Kaito decided to die to safe Shinichi. There is no one who could change that and he would do it again, just like Bianca would have done the same again. Because this is how we work. We're heroes. We protect, we fight and we die. I know that this won't make you suddenly feel less guilty, but with the time you'll understand.”

He smiled fondly at her and then locked eyes with her older half-sister. Akako aimed a slightly grateful look his way, indicating she would take care of the punk girl. Nodding in acknowledgment the hero of Olympus stood again and left the room. The scene he stumbled into was more than just confusing. Clarisse, Conan and Nico stood armed in the living room, facing the door.

“What' going on?”, asked the son of Poseidon confused.

“Kaito said we're getting some unwelcomed visitors. Get the witches”, growled the girl.

Percy nodded and re-opened the bedroom door, calling the two daughters of Hecate to the living room. Standing side by side with his boyfriend he pulled Riptide out of his poked. The six – seven, if the ghost floating behind Conan was counting, too – faced the door until it burst into flames. A glowing woman led black-clad half-bloods into the loft.

“You annoying little brats! Years of planning and you come and destroy everything”, screeched the goddess of discord and quarrel angrily.

Green flames licked her skin, burning only the carpet and the door. The men and women, all clad in black, some of them demi-gods, others monsters. A fight broke loose like nothing Conan had ever seen. Nico had lend him a celestial bronze sword, though his fighting skills weren't the best. His father had taught him when he was younger, but years without using them made everything a bit more complicated. He was grateful for his so called battlefield instincts. Monsters exploded into ashes, half-bloods went down crying in pain. It was new and irritating to fight against a human being, to hurt and maybe even kill on purpose. But rage had taken over. Shinichi needed revenge. Not only for everything he had to endure in the past two years – Gin and Wodka were his to slay – but more so for his lost love. For Kaito. One of the organization members was obviously a child of Hephaestus, flames engulfed them and started to burn the apartment down. Though not for long. The windows busted with the gushes of wind and rain, the water extinguishing the fire. The water flooding the apartment whirled around Percy, single tides shot and drowned the enemy. Shadows pealed off the walls, binding the foes to the floor. Skeletons crawled into the apartment from the big fireplace. They fought hard and for hours, destroying the apartment, the rising anger of the son of the stormbringer changed the weather outside. Even Kaito had a chance to fight, his will to help greater than his ghostly appearance. He moved things around, hindering the Crows in their attacking, doing everything in his power to protect his detective and his friends.

Until each monster was slayed and each half-blood was unconscious or, if given no other choice, dead. Lou was holding her bleeding arm, Clarisse tried to relocate her dislocated shoulder, wincing in pain. Shadows and water alike captured the furious goddess.

“You insolent little brats!”, hissed Eris angered. “How dare you interfere!”

“Well, it had to be done. You've destroyed peace in Japan for years now”, growled Nico.

“Peace, peace, peace, all you ever want is peace! Tell me one thing, little godling, what's a hero without a fight? What good does a hero if there is no evil to outmatch? No monster to slay? Times of peace are no times for heroes. Why would you want peace, then?”, asked the goddess.

“Because we were born in chaos and left it behind. Because we created the world so it shall be peaceful. And playing with each other's children like they are pawns on your chessboard is unacceptable, Eris!”, scolded a loud and booming voice from above.

Bright light engulfed them, blinding them, until everything seemed to disappear.


	14. The Star Money, Sponsored by Olympus

_**14\. The Star Money, Sponsored by Olympus** _

 

They blinked, still blinded from the white light. Percy grabbed his head with one hand, his other hand searching for Nico's. The son of Hades gave a reassuring squeeze once their fingers were linked. The couple groaned in recognition. This was mount Olympus. Not the place they wanted to be right now. No, the king-sized bed with silken sheets would be their place of choice.

“Percy”, rang a deep voice through the throne room.

Sea-green eyes light up and he limped over to his father, who hugged him briefly before the Sea Prince retreated back to his best friend and his boyfriend. Clarisse beside him exchanged some meaningful, grumpily proud glances with her father and Nico received a clap on the shoulder from the Lord of Death. A tall, beautiful woman with glowing magenta-red hair wavering behind her hurried up to the little group, stopping in front of the two witches.

“I'm very proud of you, my girls”, smiled the woman. “My little Akako had been the only one to listen... Contrary to some gods around here.” She threw a dark glare at Zeus.

The king of the gods rolled his eyes annoyed. He hated being wrong. Especially if this wrong could mean a war. His eyes swept over the little group of half-bloods in front of him.

“You're here to receive your praising, for you did good”, grunted Zeus.

“Shin-chan!”, interrupted a squealing female voice.

Yukiko Kudou, dressed in a white toga, ran up to her son and lifted him into the air, whirling him around, pressing him against her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Dike, if you would please...”, sighed the king of the gods, used to her attics.

In fact, said attics and personality were the reasons he had no problem with her staying away from Olympus for so many years. The goddess of justice turned an irritated glare at him.

“Dad!”, growled the woman threateningly. “Don't interrupt me!”

“Yes, yes”, grunted Zeus and waved his hand.

“Shin-chan, I'm sorry for... not being there, leaving you on your own for such a long time, not telling you the truth... For everything. But it was for your own safety... And now... For what you did, I've pledged for a special thanks for you. The little daughter of Athena wasn't able to create an antidote, though my half-brother Apollo did”, smiled Yukiko.

A white light interrupted any question the shrunken detective wanted to ask. The brightness was soon replaced by pure darkness and unconsciousness embraced the exhausted Heisei Holmes.

 

Percy yawned and tried to stretch. Though the last one was kind of complicated considering the Italian that was wrapped tightly around him and growling into his ear.

“Sleep”, ordered the son of Hades annoyed.

“It's already past ten, Nico”, chuckled the son of Poseidon. “Time to stand up. Don't you want to know if Shinichi is awake yet? Come on! And I'm hungry.”

The curly-haired teen grunted and sat up. Dark brown eyes lingered a bit at the scene in front of him. Percy changed out of the too big Nightmare before Christmas shirt and into his orange camp shirt, looking around the Hades cabin in wonder.

“Have you seen my jeans? Because I doubt you want me running around camp half naked!”

“Over there, on the chair”, muttered the Ghost Prince and started changing, too.

“Ah!”, exclaimed Percy triumphantly and pulled the black jeans on.

Nico walked up to his boyfriend and slung his arms around the smaller boy's waist, burying his head in the crook of the Sea Prince's neck, inhaling the deep, salty scent of the ocean.

“Can't we stay, say an hour longer here? You, me, no clothes?”

“Grover comes back today to visit and I'm eager to see him again. Besides; no sex before breakfast. You know the rule. Eating first, exercise later”, smirked Percy and pecked the other boy's cheek.

A knocking on the door prevailed every further try of Nico to get into his pants.

“Boys? You ready?”, asked Clarisse, poking her head into the cabin.

“Sure, War Princess!”, smiled Percy and pulled the taller teen along behind him.

“Where's your boyfriend?”, wanted the son of Hades to know.

“With his brothers”, grunted the brunette annoyed. “You know those tricksters and since the last... incident... the Stolls are trying to stay out of my way.”

“And here I thought they weren't capable of learning”, smirked the son of Poseidon.

“Yeah. Seems even old dogs can learn new tricks”, snickered the Italian.

The trio headed over the big place and past the dining hall, passing new and old campers.

“Where the heck are we going?”, wanted the son of Hades to know.

“Since you have overslept, you missed breakfast. We're having a pick-nick”, explained Clarisse.

“Who? Where? Why?”, was all the olive-skinned half-blood could say. “And where are we going?”

“Out in the woods. Grover – yeah, he arrived three hours ago – Juniper and some of the others are preparing everything. And we are visiting someone first so we can hopefully fetch the guest of honor”, smirked the daughter of Ares.

Nico nodded in understanding, coming to a halt once they arrived at the Apollo cabin. The brunette next to him opened the door slowly, her two friends followed her. A blonde boy smiled at them and waved them over to a bed. In the bed was a lean, sleeping brunette Japanese.

“Did he wake up yet?”, asked the sea-green eyed hero lowly.

“He stirs. Sometimes. I think he'll soon wake up”, answered the son of Apollo with a nod.

“He's overdue”, grunted Clarisse annoyed, trying to cover her worry. “It had been a week now.”

“She's right. And now would be an awesome time to wake up”, agreed the son of Hades.

Out of habit, the Sea Prince grabbed the bottle of water from the table and opened it. He used the water to channel it's energy over into the unconscious body of his friend. It wasn't enough, at least until now, but he tried it nonetheless. Though this time was different.

“Will! Will, I think he's waking up!”, exclaimed Percy surprised.

The blonde child of the Son God turned to them to check Shinichi's vitals. Cerulean blue eyes opened slowly, his eyelids heavy as lead. He groaned in pain. Every muscle and bone in his body felt like... after he had taken an antidote. His eyes widened and he stared down at himself.

“What had happened?”, asked the Heisei Holmes dumbfounded.

“The gods, they gave you your old body back. You're quite handsome, by the way”, smiled the son of Poseidon with a wink, leaning over to hug the detective shortly.

“Oi, oi, no flirting!”, chided Nico, slapping his boyfriend's behind playfully.

“Jealous brat”, giggled the Sea Prince.

“Get out of that bed, Kudou”, ordered the daughter of Ares bossily.

“But I just woke up... And once again; What had happened?”

“You've been asleep for a week, your body needed the rest after all your organs, muscles and bones had grown what a regular body has ten years time to do so in the course of a few seconds”, explained Will patiently.

“Yeah, yeah, but he had slept for long enough! Come on! Food's ready and they are waiting for us!”

The brunette girl grabbed the Japanese boy's hand, pulling him up. Shinichi didn't have a say in the matter, obviously, so he decided to just follow his American friends.

“Where are we?”, was the last thing he asked before they left the cabin.

“Camp Half-Blood, New York. And now come, you haven't eaten in a week, you're certainly hungry. And there are so many people you need to meet!”, chattered Percy animatedly.

“I'm sorry, Percy-kun, but I'm not really in the mood”, sighed the Heisei Holmes.

“Oh, but there is someone who waited to meet you for a week now”, smiled Nico.

The four arrived at a clearing. Blankets covered the grass. The beautiful tree nymph was seated next to her boyfriend, to whom Percy ran up to. He hugged his best friend, grinning broadly. Next to the satyr and the nymph sat a red head, also hugging the son of Poseidon.

“I didn't know you've arrived at camp, Rachel”, grinned the Sea Prince.

“I've heard you guys fulfilled my prophecy. I needed to check on that”, smiled the ginger.

“That's right, we so did!”, nodded Clarisse, falling down next to them, looking around for her boyfriend. “Hey, Chris, don't ignore your wonderful girlfriend!”

“He's right, Chris, don't ignore her or you'll have to face her wrath”, laughed Rachel.

A black-haired boy slung his arms around her and kissed her softly as a greeting. Next to him was a blonde boy Shinichi recognized as Malcolm Cage, Ai's half-brother, who was talking to Jake Mason. The son of Apollo clapped Shinichi's shoulder reassuringly before he walked up to his boyfriend and sat down next to them. Two brunette girls sat near them. One was holding hands with Malcolm, the other was staring adoringly at Lou. To the Heisei Holmes' surprise, the other daughter of Hecate was there, too. Though Akako was deep in a conversation with two blondes and three brunette boys. One of the blondes was a girl, Annabeth Chase is Shinichi recalled it right, the other was a boy that reminded him distantly of Kogoro Mouri. All three of the brunettes had mischievous indigo eyes and messy brown hair. Two of them looked nearly identical and the third...

“Kaito...”, whispered the detective wide-eyed.

The chatter died down, all eyes went up to him. In a split second, the Moonlight Magician was in front of the Heisei Holmes, a broad smile on his lips.

“I leave your bedside for only an hour to help here and you decide to wake up. Tantei-kun, your timing is driving me nuts!”, laughed the son of Hermes joyfully.

Instead of whatever answer he had expected, he received a slap in the face. Indigo-violet eyes blinked in surprise, staring down at the detective. Blue eyes were half hid behind brown bangs, but not enough. Kaito saw the tears gathering in those brilliant orbs.

“Hey, it's alright”, whispered the messy-haired Japanese, lifting the other boy's head.

“I—What... What is the meaning of this? And how can anything be alright? You're dead! I saw you dying! You died! You idiotic, moronic, stupid thief died before I could tell you how much I love you! And now you're doing what? Pulling another impossible trick?!”, screamed Shinichi enraged.

Soft, sad indigo-violet eyes locked with broken blue and Kaito captured the detective's lips.

“He's not dead. Not anymore”, answered Nico nonchalantly, sitting down behind Percy.

“But... how?”, asked the Heisei Holmes after they parted for air.

“Your mother gave you your body back as thanks for your deeds. We gave our rewards up and exchanged them for another chance for Kaito”, explained the son of Poseidon.

“Though, let me tell you one thing; getting Lord Zeus to agree was darn hard”, grunted Clarisse.

“It took us much afford”, smiled Akako and nodded.

“But in the end – and with the annoying quality of your mother's whining and Lord Hermes' angry glares – we managed. Kaito got another chance at life as himself”, ended Lou.

“And now you got me back, in all my glory!”, grinned the magician broadly.

Shinichi, trying to progress everything, hugged the air out of the thief. The son of Hermes was mildly surprised, though his grin softened to a little smile and he returned the hug.

“Don't you dare dying on me again, stupid thief”, growled the Heisei Holmes in warning.

“I love you too, tantei-kun”, whispered the Phantom Thief, brushing his lips over the teen detective's head. “And I'm sorry I put you through all that sorrow.”

“You better be, because I'll kick your ass ten times to Sunday if you ever dare to do that again”, growled Shinichi.

“Uh...”, gulped Kaito a bit intimidated. “Come, come, I need to introduce you to everyone!” He whirled them both around so the Heisei Holmes was facing the group seated on the blankets. “This is Underwood-kun, the Lord of the Wild. The interestingly green-skinned ojou-san next to him is his girlfriend, the tree nymph Juniper-chan. And this is Dare-chan, the Oracle of Delphi.” He pointed at the red-head next to Percy, then turned to a group of boys. “You certainly remember Cage-kun and Mason-kun from our IM-conversations, right? The blonde is Mason-kun's boyfriend, Solace-kun. He had taken care of you for the past week since he's the head of Apollo cabin. And those two beautiful brunettes are the Gardner-sisters, daughters of Demeter. Katie-chan is Cage-kun's girlfriend, her younger sister Miranda-chan is Lou-chan's girlfriend. That over there are Liber-kun, son of Dionysus, and Chase-chan, you know, Percy-kun's ex-girlfriend. And those are my brothers! That's Chris-kun, you know, Clarisse-chan's boyfriend. And the Stoll-brothers. Connor-kun and Travis-kun.”, introduced the magician everyone.

“Uhm... Stupid, little question, but... What are you still doing here?”

The son of Dike looked from Akako over to Nico and Percy and in the end to Kaito.

“Idiotic, moronic, stupid detective. We have been worried about you. We've waited for you.”

The thief stole another kiss from the Heisei Holmes and sat down on the blankets, too, pulling his favorite critic with him. A slight blush covered the blue-eyed Japanese's cheeks.

“That and my apartment is still being renovated”, admitted Nico with a shrug.

“Aside from that, they had been waiting for me. I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, it's a pleasure meeting you”, smiled the ginger, holding her hand out for Shinichi to shake.

“Ah, likewise. Kaito said you are the... Oracle of Delphi?”, nodded the detective.

“Exactly. The one and only. I'm here because you guys fulfilled my prophecy.”

Cerulean blue eyes closed as the Heisei Holmes thought of the words the Americans had recited to him weeks ago. “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire, the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”

“Good memory”, commented the son of Hades with one raised eyebrow.

“Eidetic memory”, smirked the detective, reluctantly leaning back against Kaito's chest.

“So... the seven half-bloods were Nico-kun, Percy-kun, Clarisse-chan, Lou-chan, Akako-chan, Shin-chan and I?”, mused the magician, his arms wrapping around the critic's waist.

“And what about the second line?”, grunted Clarisse confused. “Fire and storm...?”

“Considering that my apartment nearly burned down if it hadn't been for my rain-bringing boyfriend here, I'd guess Percy-chan is the storm and someone from the Crows represented the fire”, concluded Nico, resting his head on the Sea Prince's shoulder.

“Why do you call me Percy-chan, but Kaito and Shinichi always call me Percy-kun? Don't think I hadn't noticed! It's always Lou-chan and Clarisse-chan and Akako-chan, but Nico-kun and Kaito-kun and Shinichi-kun. You know, if I won't get a good explanation soon, we two are having a heavy problem, Mister!”, demanded Percy to know, facing his boyfriend with a warning glare.

“Uhm... Uh...”, stuttered the son of Hades a bit desperate, searching for the magician's eyes. “Kaito-kun, help me out here! How do I explain that to him without him chopping my balls off?!”

The thief and the detective looked at each other in amusement.

“It's a kind of endearment. It's not as strict as you may think now. Girls can be called -kun and boys can be called -chan, though it's more rare. With girls that's a more distanced and polite thing to do. And calling a boy -chan is either rather impolite or very intimate”, explained the son of Dike.

“Shin-chan is right”, agreed Kaito with a broad grin. “Simply put you can go by that.”

“Okay... I'll leave it at that”, drawled the son of Poseidon with a slow nod.

“Guys, focus!”, grunted Clarisse annoyed.

“Right”, nodded the Ghost Prince. “I've been wondering about the third line anyway...”

“An oath to keep with a final breath”, repeated Annabeth.

She coughed a bit awkwardly, not feeling too comfortable sitting near her ex-boyfriend and said ex-boyfriend's new boyfriend. So instead she tried to focus on the prophecy. A prophecy she had always thought she would be part of, too.

“I think... I know what it means”, whispered Shinichi.

“Well then, spill it, boy!”, urged the daughter of Ares irritated.

“Kaito promised me to keep me safe... and then he... died to protect me...”

The teenage detective guarded his eyes, hurt flashing over his face at the memory of a lifeless body, covered in blood, all mischief and joy leaving those beautiful indigo-violet. A shudder wrecked his body, the grip around his waist tightening some more and reminding him that the idiotic magician was in fact alive. He was back. And he wouldn't dare leaving again.

“Okay, so Kaito kept his oath with a final breath, checked”, nodded Percy.

“And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death”, continued Grover.

The satyr was chewing a tin can, running his fingers through the golden hair of his girlfriend. The nymph wasn't paying the group any mind, busy talking with the daughters of Demeter and Pollux about gardening and the beautiful flowers of Lady Persephone.

“That one is so obvious!”, interjected Connor.

“Yeah, look who's sitting over there! It's death's son”, grinned Travis.

“And look in who's apartment you fought”, nodded Chris, grabbing an apple.

“Okay, so we fulfilled every line of the prophecy... But still... It wasn't that big. I mean, sure, it was a harsh fight, but was that really the nearing end of the world?”, asked Lou confused.

“This fight had been due for twenty years now and may have taken a turn for the worse if we wouldn't have intervened”, answered her half-sister.

“Damn, I miss that awesome Japanese food”, complained Clarisse, staring at her pancakes.

“I really hope it's as good as you say it is”, grunted the son of Hermes next to her.

“Believe your girlfriend, it is”, smirked Nico. “Don't worry, you'll like it.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”, asked the son of Dike curiously, biting into the sandwich the thief handed him.

“Since my two best friends will move to Tokyo, I considered retiring too... You know, I really enjoyed our time there. Since Nico got another spacious room in his super luxury apartment I've been bribing Chris to agree to us moving in with them”, explained the brunette girl.

“We've already packed up and brought our stuff over to Nico's days ago”, sighed Chris.

“Yeah, we've only been waiting for you to wake up”, smiled Percy, poking the detective.

The son of Hades took a strawberry and brought it up to the paler teen's lips. Sea-green eyes sparkled as he parted his lips and bit the red fruit.

“Since it's for your best that we leave as soon as possible. It was hard enough keeping your being here a secret from her”, sighed Nico, stretching the last word.

“From who?”

Shinichi blinked confused and stood, helping the others gathering everything back together.

“You have been wondering about Mouri-chan's whereabouts. Well, we found her.”

The magician looked a bit annoyed saying that, one arm finding it's way around the detective's waist again as if trying to show everyone that this detective was indeed his.

“Oh. Uh... How... is she? What is she doing here?”

“She's good, no need to worry”, assured Juniper.

“She's a daughter of Nemesis and since Nemesis is also the goddess of revenge it would maybe be better if you two would leave before she makes the connection. Seeing the boy she loves – she made a point out of telling everyone about how much she loves you – with someone else... That coupled with her being a professional karate fighter would most likely end rather bloody”, mused Annabeth, turning a calculating gaze on the Japanese couple.

“You're... probably right with that one. Well, when does the next flight take off?”

“No flight. I'll never ever fly again”, shuddered Clarisse disgusted.

“We'll... what was the word again?... Shadow-travel?”, corrected the magician.

“Aren't six people a few too many for you, Nico-kun?”, wanted Shinichi concerned to know.

“I'll only take with me what's mine”, smirked the son of Hades.

“Oi!”, protested Percy annoyed, hitting the olive-skinned teen's arm.

“My one true love, my stunningly beautiful Sea Prince, my charming, charismatic boyfriend...”, added the Ghost Prince with a cheeky grin.

“There, that's better”, grinned the sea-green eyed demi-god, leaning up to kiss his boyfriend.

“PDA, PDA!”, called Clarisse with mock-annoyance.

“I'd be interested as to how we'll get there if not with you”, interrupted Shinichi, looking at Nico.

“There's someone you need to meet! Shinichi, meet Mrs. O'Leary!”, announced the son of the Sea God and whistled loudly.

The earth shook, a barking sounded through the woods and a mighty, black beast tackled the Sea Prince and the Ghost Prince to the ground. Shinichi's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. This dog was a monstrosity! It was high as an elephant.

“What in the world is this?”, gasped the Heisei Holmes.

“That's a hell-hound. It's Percy-kun's pet. She's awesome and so cute! Say, Shin-chan, you think we could get a hell-hound, too? Pretty please!”

“Hold on there a second, stupid thief! What do you mean with we?”, grunted the detective.

“Well”, drawled the son of Hermes with a wicked grin. “Since Kudou Shinichi is living all alone in that big, depressing mansion and this poor thief here has to share a way too small room with a way too annoying half-Brit, so I thought maybe you have a bit room for little, old me?”

The son of Dike knitted his eyebrows in contemplation and for a second the magician thought he had taken it too far too early, until a smirk broke the detective's mask.

“Somebody has to keep an eye on you after all, you reckless thief.”

“Jeez, more PDA”, grunted the daughter of Ares with a small smile at the two kissing Japanese.

“You know I'll use hell-hound Travels to come over to visit you, right?”, grinned Lou.

The other children of the prophecy hugged the youngest daughter of Hecate, the rest of camp soon joined them to say their good byes to the heroes.

“And you're sure you want to leave? Camp has been home...”, whispered Annabeth.

“No. Camp is just a place. Being with the people I love is home. You know you can come visiting some time, right, wise girl? We're still friends after all”, smiled the son of Poseidon.

“Maybe. Some time. I don't know”, answered the blonde girl reluctantly.

“Gods, I'm so glad to get out of here! All those newbies have been driving me nuts for years now! And really, I'm getting too old for this shit. All those quests and this living with all your half-siblings without any privacy! I'm so outa here!”, called Clarisse loudly, climbing the hell-hound.

“You two, behave”, warned Chris his two older brothers and hugged them briefly.

“Since when” - “Do children” - “Of Hermes” - “Behave?”, smirked the Stoll brothers.

“You know the Dare family owns a holiday residence in Osaka... Maybe I'll drop by sometime”, hummed the Oracle of Delphi, hugging both Nico and Percy.

“Greetings to our sister!”, called Malcolm after them, one arm resting on Annabeth's shoulder.

“I'm glad you're happy, Percy”, smiled Grover, waving them.

“Come by and visit on your tour through the wild”, demanded the Sea Prince.

“Oh, oh! Percy, do me a favor and give greetings to Sakura!”, chimed Juniper.

“Which one?”, whispered Shinichi confused.

“Don't know”, replied Nico silently before calling down. “Will do!”

“Well, meet you at the apartment!”, grinned the Ghost Prince, pulling his boyfriend through the shadows, waving everyone with one hand, the other holding onto the Sea Prince.

“What? Wait! How do we steer this beast!”, screeched Clarisse wide-eyed.


	15. And They Lived Happily Ever After – No End

_**15\. And They Lived Happily Ever After – No End** _

 

_~*~ six months later ~*~_

 

Annabeth was annoyed and mildly irritated. This day was going to be problematic. Her plan was easy; sneaking out of camp with Lou and Akako. Without Ran noticing. And that was the hard part. Because the Japanese girl was like a hawk, prying on anything in any kind of way connected to Shinichi. But the Stolls had agreed to distract the karate champ.

“Ran-chan, how are you doing?”, grinned Connor broadly, laying one arm leisurely around her shoulder, winking at her meaningfully.

“Eh, I'm good, Connor-kun. I've just been searching for Koizumi-chan. Have you seen her? Or Chase-chan, by chance?”, wanted the Japanese girl to know.

“No such luck”, shrugged Travis, walking in front of them.

The two sons of Hermes lead her methodically away from the woods. Gray eyes glinted in relieve as Annabeth sneaked out of the Athena cabin and through the shadows of the trees.

A red-head and a lilac-haired girl were standing there between the trees, talking to a green-skinned nymph who was laughing good-amused.

“I'd love to accompany you, but sadly my tree won't allow it”, smiled Juniper.

“Well, we can't all go. That would be way too much. I mean, they wouldn't have enough room for all of camp to join”, laughed a brunette girl beside her.

“I know, I know, but I'd still prefer if you'd come along, 'Randa”, sighed the punk.

“Aw, you'll live without me. And besides, as long as your sister is with you you don't pay any attention to me anyway”, smirked Miranda.

“That one is true. Lou is taking the hero worshiping of her bigger sister way too serious”, interjected Annabeth with a nod. “So, Akako, where's our ride?”

“She's still asleep in the shadows. Traveling here exhausted her, but I guess we can get going soon”, answered the Japanese witch.

“Good. So, how are things over in Tokyo? I haven't visited in weeks!”, wanted the blonde to know.

“It had only been two weeks, Chase-chan”, chuckled Akako. “Anyway, all is good. Hakuba-kun is missing you, though. He said with the way Kuroba-kun is demanding all of Kudou-kun's attention and la Rue-chan is training with Sera-chan he's missing someone with real intellect.”

“Ah, yes, he would be a great addition to the Athena cabin. I still hope he decides to move here once he finished college. I'd appreciate his company and mind”, agreed Annabeth.

A barking sound and the shaking of the ground interrupted her though. The big black hell-hound jumped her and licked her face – rather he tried to, considering her height she managed to bathe Annabeth completely in drool. The blonde laughed softly and patted the affectionate dog.

“There, there, Mrs. O'Leary, did you miss me?”, grinned the daughter of Athena.

A happy barking was the answer she received while the two witches climbed the dog's back.

“Chase-chan, are you coming?”, wanted Akako to know.

“Right. Coming, don't want to be late”, agreed the blonde and tried to wriggle free. “Now let me go, girl. Or don't you want to go back to your masters?”

The hell-hound seemed to consider her options and in the end let go of her so she could join the two daughters of Hecate. The three girls clawed at the black fur.

“Be good and don't forget to greet them all from us”, called the daughter of Demeter after them.

“Wait up, that's the hell-hound! Koizumi-chan! Hold on, where are you going?!”, yelled the voice of the detective's daughter.

The last thing they saw was the running form of Ran Mouri before they were engulfed by the shadows. Shadow-traveling always left that tingly feeling, it was strange and exciting alright, but they didn't understand why Percy loved shadow-traveling so much. Darkness made way for bright sun-light. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, the sky was blue. And they were over a hundred feet above the ground.

“Miranda and Katie did a great job the last time they came visiting”, acknowledged the blonde.

The rooftop of the building looked more like a part of a park, cherry trees and flowers, grass and bushes. All the greenery made it nearly impossible to recognize it as what it was. The roof of a skyscraper in the middle of Tokyo. If not for the beautiful skyline beneath them, the Tokyo Tower itself nearly in front of the building, they wouldn't know where they were. Some garden swings stood in a circle, two of them already occupied. The olive-skinned son of Hades laid sprawled on one, his boyfriend on his lap, talking animatedly to Shinichi, who was half-laying on top of his magician.

“Oh, I think we got guests guys!”, announced the thief with a broad grin.

“There you are, we've been here for two hours now, waiting for you to arrive”, pointed the Italian out with an irritated look on his face.

Percy jumped off the swing and run up to Annabeth to hug her.

“Wise girl! How have you been?”, asked the son of Poseidon.

“I'm good, really. I've been busy designing the new cabins – especially the Dike cabin was giving me a hard time”, smiled the blonde half-blood. “Where are Clarisse and Chris?”

“Down in their apartment. They didn't want to wait any longer after half an hour.”

“And where's my sister?”, wondered the daughter of Athena.

“Haibara is down in the library”, answered Shinichi.

Since not only the penthouse but the whole building belonged to Nico, Clarisse and her boyfriend had rather moved into their own flat instead of sharing an appartment, because really, it was nearly impossible to live with a daughter of Ares especially during her time of the month. So she and Chris moved into one of the flats in the floor beneath them, they were practically still living together, but had enough room for themselves.

Soon after Shinichi had returned to Japan as himself, his parents decided to return, too. So he moved out. Because being in the same city as his mother was annoying enough, but living under the same rooftop? Deadly. And his parents were constantly teasing him with his choice in men. Seeing as the son of Hades had enough rooms, he offered them an apartment. Though Kaito and Shinichi had started fighting over how to use the spare room in their new apartment. The Holmes geek of course wanted the room for his books while the son of Hermes wanted it for his toys and heist plannings. The six friends had come together and debated on what to do. The easiest solution was soon found. They re-designed another apartment completely into a library, with the architectural help of Annabeth, Ai, Malcolm and Saguru. Another flat was done with the sole purpose of serving Kaito as a working place (so Shinichi could have his peace and quiet from time to time, too).

It didn't take long – three weeks, which was annoyingly long for most of them – for Saguru to ask his girlfriend to move in with him. He had thought living with the Moonlight Thief was impossible, but the roommate that came after the magician had moved out was even worse.

Needless to say that Nico felt like he had opened his own Camp Half-Blood. Especially after Sonoko and Masumi decided to move together into one of the flats, too – claiming that it was not nice of their friends to exclude them from their little rooming arrangement. At first they had feared it to be problematic with a mortal (after only a few days they came to the surprising realization that Aoko's 'long deceased mother' was in fact Philia, goddess of friendship). Though they were surprised when a rosy gleam engulfed Sonoko and she shone from within. The claiming of Aphrodite. That had explained some things, like her constantly trying to set her friends up or her falling for nearly every handsome guy. The others tried to explain everything to her. But they had the feeling that the only thing she understood was that her mother was the goddess of love.

“So, where are the others?”, wanted the daughter of Athena to know.

“I don't know. Clarisse and Chris are probably packing their stuff--”

“Something we should be doing, too”, remarked Shinichi with one raised eyebrow.

“Aw, why? That's boring”, disagreed the magician.

“Kuroba, we want to be on time. If we miss the train, we're going to be late. And believe me one thing, you don't want to run late on a wedding. The bride will tear you apart”, grunted Annabeth.

“Especially if said bride is Tooyama-chan”, added the Heisei Holmes.

“Big point for Shinichi”, agreed Percy and shuddered at the thought.

He still remembered the bride-to-be vividly. The last time they had met she was hysterical about the whole planning. Explaining to the mortal couple how they knew the Americans was hard. Some very complicated and illogical story-versions of a vacation in America and a visit in the restaurant Nico loved to eat or a case Hakuba took for them. In the end they had to thank the mist that helped them to believe their crazy story.

“Sonoko, Sera-chan, Nakamouri-chan and Hakuba-kun are already gone. The girls were requested by the bride two days ago, because she had a breakdown. Since la Rue-chan isn't the most sensitive one, she decided to stay here and let the girls and the irritating Athena brat – her phrasing, not mine – handle the bride”, ended the teenage detective their answer.

“Oh? Oh, if I would have known that!”, gasped Annabeth.

“That's the reason I didn't tell you. I don't need to go through that”, snorted the Japanese witch.

“Well then, we couldn't have shadow-traveled there anyway. That would be too dangerous. Even the mist can't work around everything”, sighed Lou. “Anyway, where should we let Mrs. O'Leary rest in Osaka? It's better to let her stay here.”

The punk patted the dog's head, who yawned widely. Kaito stretched and walked leisurely up to the elevator's door, his boyfriend on his heels.

“We've packed our stuff this morning. Well, I packed it and Nico molested me anyway”, Percy threw an half-annoyed glare at his boyfriend. “So if Clarisse and Chris are ready, we could leave.”

“Which sounds great”, agreed Shinichi and nodded.

“Why are you so eager to get there?”, muttered the magician with one raised eyebrow.

Nico snickered and leaned over to their three guests. “Kaito is being jealous ever since Hattori-kun had called Shinichi being all desperate and needing his help.”

“Oh good Lord Zeus, I'm feeling downright bad for Hattori”, gasped Annabeth. “The wrath of a child of Hermes never ends good. He'll receive worse pranking than the Ares cabin does.”

“Oh, I wouldn't feel too bad for him”, snickered Percy with a wink. “We're talking about Heiji after all. He'll live through it. The big question is if Kaito will live through Shinichi's wrath if he pranks Shinichi's best friend on his own wedding.”

“Good point, Jackson-kun”, smirked Akako and nodded slowly. “I'm really curious about this.”

“Do you think Mrs. O'Leary will be fine on her own?”, wondered Lou with worry.

“She'll rest and once she's well-rested she'll leave for my father's palace.”

“Oh. Okay, good”, smiled the American witch.

Gladly enough the elevator had enough room for the seven of them, even though it was a bit crowded. Nico and Kaito exchanged some wicked glances.

“If you grope me now, we'll have separated rooms at the hotel”, warned Percy irritated.

“And if you grope me, stupid thief, I'll kick you in the balls”, growled Shinichi.

“That's unfair!”, whined both the son of Hermes and the son of Hades.

“No, that's only normal. You two pervs”, objected the green-eyed half-blood with a smirk.

“What do you say, Percy-kun? We could share a room and have our peace and quiet for at least a couple of nights”, suggested Shinichi with a wicked grin.

“Now you're just being evil”, grunted Kaito with a pout.

The Heisei Holmes laughed softly and grabbed Percy's arm, the two of them running out of the elevator into the Ghost Prince's apartment to grab the couple's luggage before joining their friends again. Annabeth had an affectionate smile on her lips. She saw how genuinely happy her ex-boyfriend was. Both, with Nico and also in this city. At first she had been biased about it. Him moving to Tokyo that is. Though it seemed that learning Japanese with the help of so many natives wasn't as hard for the son of Poseidon as she had thought. And really, being there with all those new found friends helped him overcoming a deep-rooted sadness. And she was happy for him, really happy for him, because he was her best friend.

“Annabeth. And the witches. You finally decided to join us, too?”, grunted Clarisse.

The daughter of Ares had a look of mock-annoyance on her face and hugged the three other girls shortly, then she waved for her boyfriend, who obediently brought their suitcases.

“Can we finally leave?”, sighed Chris a bit unnerved. “I've had to listen to Clarisse's complains about the bridesmaiden-dress for the last half hour.”

They left for the train station, exchanging stories about camp and Tokyo on their ride to Osaka.

 

Percy yawned tiredly and blinked. He had fallen asleep half way to Osaka and used his boyfriend as a pillow. Upon opening his eyes he saw that the others were already shouldering their belongings.

“Ah, damn. And I had hoped we could just leave him here”, grunted Clarisse.

“Ha, ha, ha. So very funny, War Princess”, retorted the son of Poseidon.

“Don't quarrel, please. We'd have enough of that as soon as we meet the bride and the groom”, sighed Shinichi and shook his head.

The magician grinned broadly and slung his arms around the son of Dike.

“Shin-chan is right. Let's get going, guys!”

“They are so disgustingly sweet”, chuckled Annabeth and rolled her eyes.

“No. Just disgusting”, grunted Akako. “Believe me. You don't have to stand them on a daily base.”

“Shoot. Nee-chan, I would prefer to watch them sucking faces instead of watching Ran swooning over the Stolls”, objected the younger daughter of Hecate irritated.

“Right. So, how is living with Ran?”, asked Shinichi slowly.

“Let's just say that if she keeps being like that, you'll soon have a new roommate”, sighed Annabeth.

“Okay. Back to today; How's the strategy?”, redirected Chris their conversation.

“We'll part ways once we arrive at the hotel”, answered Annabeth. “Sonoko had send me an IM earlier and said that I should take Clarisse, Lou and Akako with me so we can try the bridesmaiden-dresses on. You boys are requested to keep Heiji and Saguru as far apart as possible.”

“I still wonder why your half-brother is invited at all”, questioned Clarisse.

“Because Kazuha had invited Nakamouri-chan and she insisted on bringing that annoying prick with her!”, yelled a heavily accented and irritated voice.

“Hattori”, exclaimed Shinichi surprised. “Aren't you supposed to... I don't know, be somewhere?”

“I can't get rid of that prick!”, growled Heiji. “Kudou, help me commit the perfect murder.”

“No killing Hakuba-kun”, chided the Heisei Holmes with one raised eyebrow.

“Jeez, I don't have time for this! There's so much to do still!”, sighed Hattori.

“How about you take a walk with Shinichi and we will take care of everything else?”, suggested Percy with a smirk, grabbing the protesting Kaito's arm. “Heiji looks like he could use some alone-time with his best friend. So go on you two.”

Nico helped steering the son of Hermes off towards the hotel, while Chris took Shinichi's bag and the others left, until the two detectives were alone. The Heisei Holmes smiled affectionately at their retreating backs and turned around to face his best friend.

“I really like yer new friends there”, grunted Hattori relieved.

“Yeah. They are great”, smiled Shinichi.

“But ye know I don't believe a single word about how ye met 'em”, snorted the Osakan.

“I know. Just trust me with this. I really can't tell you”, sighed the Heisei Holmes.

“Is it something bad? Like the...”, started the dark-skinned detective.

“No. No, not like the BO. And I already told you that we got rid of them.”

“And by we ye mean yourself, the annoying thief and those Americans, right?”

“Right”, nodded the smaller teen with a half-smirk. “And now come. Okonomiyaki. I'll pay.”

“But we have a buffet for the wedding...”, blinked Heiji confused.

“Well... The wedding ceremony is in three hours, then there will be the ceremony, the speeches and the waiting until everyone is seated first. It'll be at least five hours until you'll get something. And you're way more balanced after you've had some food.”

“Jeez, Kudou, ye had me at Okonomiyaki”, chuckled the dark-skinned teen.

Shinichi shook his head in amusement and the duo headed to the Osakan's favorite restaurant. It felt good spending some alone time with his best friend. Sure, he and Percy got along really good and he loved spending time with his irritating magician, but it was just something else entirely to be with the Osakan. And he really enjoyed Kaito's unnecessary jealousy, it was kind of cute.

 

The ceremony itself was nearly tolerable – the priest had died. Turned out a groom-to-be had poisoned him, because he thought the priest was having an affair with his girlfriend, but said girlfriend had just been planning a secret wedding. Many tears were shed because of this tragic love-story and another priest was ordered while the four detectives were busy solving the murder case. Kazuha was having a mental breakdown ( - “Stupid detective geek, causing trouble at our own wedding!”), but aside from that the rest of the wedding went as normal as a wedding with guests like the Moonlight Thief, the Heisei Holmes or the heroes of Olympus could get.

Annabeth caught the bride-bouquet and blushed furiously.

“Aw, Chase-chan, now we need to find you a man!”, declared Sonoko with a broad grin, causing the daughter of Athena to blush even more.

Nico rolled his eyes and muttered something about children of Aphrodite beneath his breath, though the son of Poseidon poked him hard in the ribs and threw him a warning glare.

“I can't wait to get back home”, groaned Clarisse annoyed and sprawled herself all over the seat next to Percy, her head hitting the table rather hard.

“But you look so pretty, Clarisse”, snickered Nico. “Pink is totally your color.”

“Jackson, I swear, if you don't shut him up, I'm gonna tear your boyfriend apart...”

“And we don't want that! Come on, Nico, dance with me”, grinned Percy and pulled the Ghost Prince onto the dancefloor.

“I haven't danced since the 20s!”, hissed the son of Hades wide-eyed.

“Well, then it's time”, smirked the green-eyed teen and batted his eyelash at them.

He slung his arms around Nico's neck and the Italian couldn't resist his lover's charm after all. Makoto and Sonoko soon joined them, the daughter of Aphrodite being head over heels for her boyfriend, who had especially arrived to accompany her to the wedding. Aoko pulled her boyfriend away from teasing the groom and onto the dancefloor, too.

“Here you two can at least not quarrel!”, declared the messy-haired girl irritated.

“I should have taken 'Randa with me after all...”, muttered Lou annoyed from their table.

Her bigger half-sister laughed softly, her eyes gliding over the dancing mass. Clarisse was still pouting while her boyfriend was busy talking with Annabeth and Masumi. The bride and the groom were leading the dance, Kazuha looking stunning in her white dress.

“Say, have you seen Shinichi or Kaito anywhere?”, wondered the son of Poseidon after a short scan of the dancefloor. “I'm kind of worried that Kaito will do something stupid again...”

“Not since the buffet was opened...”, answered the Ghost Prince with a hint of worry.

Percy nodded slowly and leaned his head against the taller teen's chest, humming with the music. A serene smile tugged on his lips. He loved this, everything about it. Being with Nico, the way they had fallen into a comfortable routine. Waking up in bed next to him, cooking together and eating on the rooftop together with their friends. They would head out to university together – Percy had started his first semester as sport student two months ago and was by now head of the swimming team of the university. Life was good, Percy would even go as far as to say it was perfect. His Japanese had improved, everybody was trying their best to help him, Clarisse and Chris learning. And from time to time Annabeth and Lou, or some other campers, would come over with Mrs. O'Leary and they were already certain to spend the holidays in New York – Sally had a full-blown Christmas party all planned out to get to know all their Japanese friends.

“How about we go and check if Kaito did something stupid again?”, suggested the son of Hades.

“I think... it's already too late for that”, commented the Sea Prince as he looked up.

“Wh.. Oh...”, blinked the brown-eyed half-blood and looked around.

“For the love of—I'm gonna tear yer boyfriend apart, Kudou!”, screamed the groom enraged.

“For once, we agree on something!”, growled Saguru and tried to get out of Aoko's grip.

“Kuroba, I absolutely love you!”, declared Clarisse with a broad smirk.

She loosened the tie around her neck and looked at her boyfriend, who was wearing her bright pink dress with the frills and the turf. Percy giggled and tugged on the bow in Nico's hair.

“You look so pretty, Ghost Princess”, laughed the son of Poseidon.

“So do you, Sea Princess. But I think we should really go and look for Kaito before Saguru and Heiji will do something together for the very first time”, smirked the olive-skinned demi-god.

He grabbed his boyfriend's hand and ran out of the room, soon spotting the son of Dike, who was managing to kick one soccer-ball after the other at a crouching figure. Quite admirable considering the three inches high heels he was wearing.

“Stupid thief! I told you to behave on my best friend's wedding!”, hissed Shinichi unamused.

“How about we leave? I think we shouldn't overdue our stay!”, suggested Nico.

“Aw, just when the fun part started!”, pouted Clarisse, who had followed them out.

“I think Nico is right. Because there is one angry groom in a brides-dress and an equally angry half-Brit in a bridesmaiden-dress waiting for our favorite magician and the only things holding them back are Aoko, Kazuha, Masumi, Sonoko, Makoto, Chris and Annabeth”, declared Lou.

“You know that I heard about a manticore near the castle?”, asked Akako casually.

“A manticore? Can't have that running around alone!”, grinned Percy broadly.

“We are still stopping at the hotel first! I'm not fighting any kind of monster dressed like that!”, grunted the son of Dike irritated. “And you, stupid thief, are so sleeping on the couch!”

“Worth it”, hummed the Moonlight Thief proudly.

“For the next half year”, added the Heisei Holmes with one raised eye-brow.

“I do think this choice of punishment is very good, Kudou-kun”, chuckled the Japanese witch.

“I object!”, groaned Kaito with a pitiful whimper.

“You'll live through it. And I have to agree, this prank was totally worth it”, smirked Clarisse.

“Come on guys, do you want to face a manticore or an angry Heiji and Saguru?”, asked Lou.

Percy shook his head, his free hand grabbed for his best friend's hand and the seven of them ran as fast as they could out of the building, laughing like maniacs and receiving some irritated stares at their choice of clothes. Sea-green eyes locked with dark brown ones, both pairs sparkling with joy and mischief. Kaito next to them was still receiving the preach of his life while looking like a kicked puppy, the witches and Clarisse were highly amused by that.

Yeah, life was absolutely perfect.

 

_~*~ The End ~*~_


End file.
